So Be It
by fictionfanatic1400
Summary: Miya is trying to find out what happened with her father. Her mother refuses to talk about him so she is left finding her own answers. Until she finds a forgotten journal of his and learns he was a gatekeeper for these guardians? Trying to make sense of it all she realizes that her little fairy tales as kid weren't the lies she thought them to be.
1. Chapter 1

So Be It

_Week 1: I'll have you know that this is NOT a diary, but a journal to document my life. So, here's a little bit about me, I have a loving wife named Mary with a little daughter of 5 years old, Miya. _

_I love them both dearly. They are my entire world; I don't know what I'd do without them._

_Life so far has been a paradise, I have a well-paying job, and we live in a nice house. I do however have another...well "job". It's-_

"MIIIYYYAAAAAAA"

"Jesus!" I yelled, falling back and dropping the book.

"Yeah mom?" I yelled down stairs.

No response, of course. I sighed, placed my father's journal back inside its little box. Then, slid down the attic ladder to see what her majesty requested.

"MIIIIIYYYYAAA", another shout this time more stern.

"I'm cooommmiiinnngggg!"

Making my way down the stairs I noticed James wasn't there(aka my mom's new hubby and my step-dad). It's been 10 years since my dad passed, yet my mom refuses to tell me anything about him. All she ever says is "He loved you and that's all that matters". Any time I try to bring the subject of what happened exactly, she either brushes me off or, sometimes, gets aggravated and tells me to stop. So recently, I try to "overhear" he conversations about him with James, that's when I found out he had a journal hidden in the attic. So with some snooping around in forbidden territory for what seemed like forever, I finally found it.

I stepped onto the last step of the stairs with a thud, and then made my way to the kitchen.

"Yeah mom?" I annoying said.

"What were you doing? I've been calling you forever. You weren't in the attic again were you?"

"I thought...that I uhhh heard something. Rats or something."

"What?! Oh my- Honey can you put traps up there please?"

A deep male voice which seemed to come from nowhere replied, "Yeah, no problem, I'll head over to the store to go get some."

I span around to see James standing right behind me, "Whoa, when did you get here?"

"Well good morning to you too", he laughed. Then he did some pat-rubbing thing to my hair then said, "See you in a bit".

"Yeah yeah yeah bye James" I replied.

"Thank you for taking care of it; gosh I don't know what I'd do without you around." My mother said with a big smile. After he walked out her warm welcoming look turned cold and she glared at me.

"What?"

"Come on Mie, show some respect. He is your father after all".

"Step.. mom, Step father".

(I want to keep the respect of the father title exclusively to my real dad. But I don't mind James; I just prefer to not call him Dad.)

"He's been taking care of us since you were six. Does that not earn him the title of being called dad?"

"Why are you so okay with acting like dad was never here? Did he abandon us or something?"

"Miya!" She looked choked up for a moment, "I've told you before and I'll tell you again, I am not discussing this now! W-when you're older I will tell you everything you want to know ok? I- I promise".

She looked like she was about to burst into tears "Now please, can you go wake up Emma, it's nine in the morning, she should be up".

I looked sympathetically at her, I always feel bad when she gets all choked up like that. "Y-yeah, I will".

"Thank you" she mumbled out as I was heading up the stairs.

Emma is my 6 year old sister, well technically speaking half sister, but I like to think of her as my bouncing baby sister. As I opened her door and looked inside, I saw she wasn't in her bed.

"Emma"? I got worried and started to search her room, I found her hiding in the closet. She looked terrible. "Jeez, did you sleep at all last night?"

"There was a monster under my bed! I saw him!" she mustered.

(And yet she had the courage to get out and hide in the closet…?) "Well I'm sure that you just had a bad dream that's all'.

"No Miya I saw him! He was tall and dark and scary! He had scary yellow eyes and everything!"

"See now that is where you're wrong".

"Wha-what?"

"Tell me, how many people do you see with yellow eyes"?

"Uhmm"

"None, that's because you can't have yellow eyes. It's impossible".

She looked puzzled for a moment then returned to her overly zealous self.

"Wow, Miya you're so smart"!

"Why thank you, now go down stairs, mom wants you".

Yellow eyes huh? Ridiculous.


	2. Chapter 2

As she pranced out the door and down the stairs, I took this as a chance to snoop around. I put my headphones on and turned on my music and took a look around. Something fairly new caught my eye, a new storybook James or mom must've got her. It was a little picture book about the "guardians". This consisted of Santa Clause, The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Sandman. While flipping through the pages a particular figure caught my eye, a tall man dressed in black with yellow eyes. Ah so here's the culprit, titled the boogey man also known as the notorious Pitch Black.

I closed the book and couldn't help but think, "Did I really believe in these as a kid? Wow kids are weird". Being a teenager probably could've influenced it a little bit.

I feel like on the inside I'm still a kid. I'm not one of the rebellious "I'm invincible" teens. Not having many friends helps with that too, it's not that I hate people or have trust issues. In all honesty I could probably make friends if I wanted. I have acquaintances I talk to and they're cool, but I wouldn't consider them my friends. It's really that I'm just content with my little small solitary world.

I always have my headphones that swallow my ears on so people don't really bother me. I don't look like some vicious 15 year old either. I have wear black tennis shoes, skinny jeans, and normally a white zip up hoodie, with a plain black undershirt. With my dark brown hair and blue eyes I don't say I look menacing or anything. Shoot I don't even wear raccoon make-up.

I realized I got caught up in my thoughts and music when I noticed my mom in the doorway. I put my music on pause and looked at them. She was with Emma looking at me holding a kid's book inside staring off into space. "And here I thought you were too old for storybooks".

"Gah! I was ju- just, ugh never mind, what time is it?"

She laughed "Noon, I'm going to take Emma out to go get some relaxing no-more-nightmares ice cream, do you want to join us?"

"Ice cream for lunch? Isn't that against the mom codebook or something?"

"I can bend the rules, do you want to come or not?"

"Buhh no thanks I'm good". This would be the perfect chance to go into the attic and continue reading my dad's old journal.

"Okay your loss, James should be home soon so don't burn the house down".

"Well no promises, since you know I'm a total pyro".

As soon as I heard her lock the front door, I went down ate lunch then headed up to the attic. I was looking for where exactly I left off when I heard the front door open. "Crap!" I picked up the book got down as fast as I could and threw the book into my room right in time for James to spot me from the top of the stairs.

"You were in the attic again, weren't you?"

"Ummm…no?" I said with a guilty smile.

"Don't worry about it; this can be our little secret, so long as you help me with the traps up there".

I relaxed, "Well I don't have much choice now do I, hey now isn't this blackmail?"

"Of course not".

"So I can say no?"

"Well, that all depends on how you want your mom to hear about this, it can go snooping in the attic, to thoughtfully helping out dear old step dad." He cleverly added.

We started setting up the traps just when my mom got home. James kept his end of the bargain with telling her I'm just helping him.

After we finished, I was laying on my bed listening to music. I just wasn't feeling like reading the journal at the moment. Though I found a loose floorboard in my room and hid it there.

Suddenly, it felt like I suddenly got slapped in the face with the bored stick. So I decided to go on a walk, my mom was okay with it mostly because I don't have any troublesome friends she has to worry about. I decided I'd go through the woods today, out of all my time of living in the same house I have never ventured out there.

It was really peaceful, the calm breeze and the beauty of green trees swaying with the wind. Today was a perfect relaxation day, animals were out and about, I saw three squirrels, and a rabbit. Everything in the world just felt in perfect balance as I continued through the trail.

Then I came to a small clearing, but something was off. There was a bed frame in the middle of it. It was an old wooden one that seemed like it's been here for years. Grazing it with my fingers, it still was somewhat smooth somehow. I sat on edge of it and collected my thoughts of the gorgeous greenery.

This place seemed like it was made for me, away from the suburbs, no kids running and bumping into me. With my music blasting I didn't notice the creaking of the frame struggling to hold my weight. Then, without warning the wooden bed frame gave way and I fell into some hole that was originally covered with various leaves.

I landed on my side, my shoulder hit first and it hurt immensely. I felt a cold breeze on my neck, turning around I saw that this was some tunnel. It had a walkway that headed deeper in, so I ignored my shoulder and ventured in. Curiosity killed that cat right?

I don't know what it was that grabbed my attention of it so much, clearly the rational decision would be to call for help or climb out. Strange because normally I think rationally about well everything, yet I still made my way in without a second thought. It was very dimly lit, as of the only thing lighting it up was the reflection of light off various structures in the passage.

But what was this place? Maybe some homeless person's home, no no no it couldn't be because of the whole bed thing. Some homeless guy living in a hole under a bed? Nah, how would they survive without food and water? Could've been an abandoned movie set I suppose. People do film on location, that works I suppose.

I really had to stop spacing out because I wandered right into the center of this little set up and was a bit lost. That's when I got the feeling that someone else was here. My paranoia can get the best of me at times, so I just tried my best to discard that feeling.

I saw a faint glowing off in the distance and thought that maybe it was a campfire. When I finally arrived, I was surprised. It was a big globe with little lights on it. It wasn't necessarily a globe but the continents were there. A globe with no oceans. "Whoa, where is the electricity for this thing coming from?" I thought. But what were the little lights? Maybe population density? I don't know what kind of movie this is, but it sure sounds strange.

With the lingering feeling of someone else still there, I was careful to be aware of my surroundings, I even turned off my music and removed my headphones. I hate this feeling, it frightens me when I find myself in an unpredictable situation, or one where I'm not aware of anything. I guess I just don't like not knowing.

There were outlines of what appears to be building around, but other than the globe and the hole where I entered, there was no light whatsoever. So it was pretty hard to make things out. When I was walking down the stairs from where the globe was I slipped on the last step and fell. My hands felt a grainy substance on them, like sand. I brushed it off, my shoulder hurt even more now; no doubt I'd have a bruise to hide from mom.

Walking down a bit further I thought maybe I could make out some murals of figures. It was too dark to see though. Well I'm not making any progress here, I should come tomorrow more prepared. It's getting late anyway. Based on how it was getting dimmer in the cave, it was probably around sunset, or getting close.

I made my way back to the hole that I fell in from, surprisingly my shoulder didn't bother me too much climbing up. My final thoughts of the place were, "What a strange movie set".

I made my way home just in time for dinner.

"Who do you think that was? Surprising she found this place. She wasn't very scared though." Pitch pet a miniature night mare made from his black sand.

"It looks as though we'll have to change that." with sinister intentions in his voice. His yellow eyes glistening, and then fading away into the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

…_More of a duty. I'm a gatekeeper to the worlds of the Guardians' sanctuaries. I didn't choose this but I'm okay with it. _

"What? Gatekeeper..?" I thought though I decided to continue reading.

_I use the seals to each of their realms to keep others from finding out their secret. Only I can use them to go to each realm. My father passed this ability down to me. I can't help but wonder if she'll have it too. It's supposed to skip a generation, but apparently I'm a special case._

"He drew some pictures that were kind of similar to the ones in that storybook..."

_Week 2: Trouble in paradise! Miya got sick and it's pretty bad. She has a fever of 102, Mary is worried sick, but I assured her it'd be okay. The doctor told me in private that it is a rare condition and if we are not careful she could…_

_Week 6: Wow I suck at keeping track of this. Miya still hasn't gotten better and I'm so worried for her. I was checking seals again when I ran into North. He said he'd ask Jack Frost to make winter mild for the sake of Miya's condition. I'm so grateful for them, all of them. _

"What? I'm thoroughly confused now, make winter mild? Impossible."

_Week 7: We're heartbroken; the doctor told us that Miya's condition hasn't gotten better….Mary burst into tears. There's a slim chance she'll make it out alive. If she doesn't well...I don't know what we'll do._

I shut the book. I don't know how to feel about it. I want to keep reading it, but I shouldn't risk the chance that mom would walk in. I put it back in the little floorboard hiding spot in my room.

It was mid day, and I thought the perfect time to go check out that hole. I grabbed my backpack and stuffed it with some rope from my mom's rock climbing days, a flashlight and various other supplies like spare batteries and snacks.

"Going on an adventure?" said the voice that I could clearly make out as my mom.

"Yup, I'm going to be the next big thing".

"Take Emma with you".

"Noooo wayyy".

"And why not?"

"I'm going into the woods and I don't want to lose her."

"Why the woods? It can be dangerous."

"Another reason not to take her." I tried to avoid any more questions by walking by her. She grabbed the shoulder I fell on last time and lowered it in pain with the look of pain on my face. Mother instincts initiated.

"What's wrong?" She pulled down my jacket sleeve which revealed various shades of blue, black, and purple. Her look immediately changed from overly curious to mother bear.

"What happened?" she said sternly. I knew I couldn't talk my way out of this inspection.

"I kinda fell off a big rock yesterday and landed on my shoulder, that's all." I lied.

"Why on earth didn't you tell me?" she was worried, I could tell.

I knew how to smooth talk my family well when it comes to these situations.

So I gave her a sincere I'm sorry look and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't want you to worry. You're so busy all the time taking care of us; I didn't want to put more on your plate. I've only had it for about a day and it doesn't even hurt unless touched".

Yet again, her expressions changed to sympathy, "Well, please tell me next time, okay? Put an ice pack on it, and be more careful".

I smiled at her, grabbed an icepack from the kitchen ad headed out the door, saying I'd be back in a bit.

I immediately trashed the ice pack and quickly found the broken bed frame in the woods. I pulled the rope out of my backpack, tied it to a tree and leapt into the hole. Similar to a rock climber descending from a long climb. I reached the bottom and made sure the rope was steady, and then when I was assumed I made my way in flashlight in hand.

Making my way in, it felt different somehow. Like the creepiness level skyrocketed. I looked up with my flashlight and saw tons of what it appeared to be bird cages hanging from the ceiling.

My suspicions of the buildings were correct as well. Then I got this overwhelming feeling that someone was indeed here, which kind of freaked me out. I tried to brush it off as best I could, although it was a lingering feeling.

What I really wanted a look at was the painting things. As I was descending the stairway that led to them, I was careful about the sand I fell on yesterday. I didn't see it though, the stairs were completely black. I pushed my foot around to see if it was really even there. It was, I pinched my fingers together and picked up what looked like...black…sand..?

I was completely baffled; I have never seen this before. I'm assuming that maybe to just too dark to make it out, even when I shine my flashlight on it.

When I glanced up, I could now see the murals on the walls clearly. It struck me as odd at first that, these murals looked familiar. With the exception of one with a white haired one dressed in blue, and wielding a staff, which was surrounded by snowflakes.

Okay, time to make sense of all these. They each have their own little characters in their own little place….A big man...red coat...a giant rabbit…..a hummingbird person thingy..And a short man dressed in gold.

The storybook! That's what it was! These characters (with the one exception) were the ones in the storybook. But…why? Then the thought of what my father wrote about with realms and stuff. But that doesn't make any sense! There's no way places like this could exist! When I turned to contemplate all of this, I dropped my flashlight and it rolled to a corner of the room I didn't know even existed. When I picked it up, I couldn't help but notice one more painting on the wall.

I backed up and then the picture became clear, it was a tall dark figure. The collage of pictures surrounding him seemed to tell a story. One showed a town that was covered in shadows; the shadows extended and looked like they were trying to reach the moon. I didn't try to figure it out; I just looked as though it was art in a museum. There was a picture with the lone figure sitting in a dark cave.

Upon further investigation, I stopped to notice that in the background…of that one…there were…cages. Similar to the one's that I saw at the entrance.

Could this cave/tunnel be?

No because of the figure. That would mean…

There is one way to tell if my thoughts were correct. I went all the way back to the entrance and retraced my steps, where the cages hung in a certain corner and the crumbled buildings all matched the painting. With one thing missing, thankfully. I closed my eyes and thought; think if all of this were real for a second… just, logically would it make sense?

I opened my eyes and regretted it immediately. I…it…was complete…..the...painting was accurate. The cages in the corner, buildings on the other sides, all with a walkway that led up to... him. The tall man dressed in black with his terrifying yellow eyes... And the worst part was... they were staring right at me… It was him…the boogey man…it was Pitch Black.


	4. Chapter 4

What I wanted to do was run; just get away, to any place other than here. The exit was right behind me after all, the only thing I had to do was turn around bolt. But no, I couldn't move, I felt like I was paralyzed from what? Fear?

No words could describe what I was feeling.

A wide grin was displayed across his face. My heart was throbbing in my chest and I was shaking like crazy. I held my breath and didn't even blink; it was when my eyes started burning and my chest felt heavy; I snapped out of this trance I was in.

Meaning to turn around to begin my escape, I ended up just leaning back and falling.

His words then broke the silence, "See what the slightest amount of belief can do?"

I didn't say anything, but kept my eyes fixated on him.

You know when you see a spider and don't want to stop looking at it because you're afraid that if you do it'd disappear? Then you'd have no way to do anything but know that it's somewhere in the same room as you. That pretty much sums up what I'm doing now.

"Nothing? You don't do very well with introductions, do you?"

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Struggling to get to my feet, still unwilling to take my eyes off him, I got up and after a second of just staring, I ran.

First mistake.

His voice echoed from all over "This will be fun."

Dare I look back?

Second mistake.

He was nowhere in sight of course. Upon turning around, my exit was now blocked with the shadow man. I came to a quick stop and ran blindly in the other direction. What was I thinking? Clearly showing fear? Too late to stop now.

I noticed I was by the globe, where I then slid on without a doubt the black sand from earlier and fell down the stairs that led to the murals. My shoulder screamed in pain. As I lay at the bottom of the stairs, like an injured puppy, I managed to see him laughing at me from the top of the stairs.

"You make this too easy, you know?" he laughed.

I had to keep moving, I just had to, every nightmare I ever had a child involved him. To see your childhood fear in real life was completely terrifying to me. I crawled away from him, towards to walls, which was my third and final mistake. Now I've done it, I gotten myself cornered.

"I can basically smell the fear coming off you! What did you expect? To just come back into this place, without running into me?" he began to laugh again.

Pitch continued to taunt me while I frantically searched for some sort of loophole, he didn't seem to notice. He distracted himself with his little victory rant on how he cornered me.

What I needed was a place to escape to. One thing I didn't notice my first trip was a little house painted on the wall I was now taking refuge to. Home….nothing sounds better than to go home….that's all I want. I placed my hand on it almost instinctively and just kept thinking about going home, how much I wanted to be safe in the arms of a family, my family.

"Are you even listeni-" Pitch was then cut off by a light that came from the little painted house. It was so bright I was forced to close my eyes. Then with a flash, I felt like I was falling then landed harshly with a thud.

Pitch began to laugh even harder realizing he was now alone in his underground home, "So she is his daughter, how ironic. Shouldn't take long now".

I opened my eyes to see I was alone in, the attic? What I had never noticed about the attic was the paintings on the ceiling. Those figures again, man in a red coat, large rabbit, hummingbird, short man in gold, and the black figure. They all circled around little house in the center.

"Miya? Are you in the attic again?!" my mom's voice could be heard below me.

I rolled to my side to see her head pop up out of the hole that led to the second floor.

"Get down here this instant!" she yelled. I obeyed, and she began to lecture me.

I turned on my "I'm not listening but I can pretend" mode. As punishment for disobeying her nobody under 18 allowed in the attic rule, she took my music away as punishment. Honestly, that was the last thing I cared about right now. The whole encounter I just experienced was running through my head on replay.

Now grounded to my room, I took this time to read my father's journal in hope that maybe he wrote something about the paintings.

_Week 8: So earlier today, Pitch made me an offer._

Immediately, I sat up in interest.

_Since Miya's condition hasn't gotten any better, he presented a deal. And that agreement was that he would cure her, only if I become his little lab rat, or 'tester' in his words; with some black sand he was probably experimenting with. When I went to question his morals, he pulled the guilty switch. 'It's your only daughter; do my morals really matter to you? It means her safety, does it not'?_

_He said I have one day to think it over. I spoke with North and the others about it and naturally they said not to. _

_They said things along the lines of "Pitch is untrustworthy" and "He may act friendly face to face, but behind your back…. He wants nothing more than to achieve his goal your gains mean nothing to him." He's deceiving, without a doubt. But I don't know what else to do. I mean this is my daughter's life! I do have now 23 hours to try to piece together what it is he's playing at. _

_Week 9: I accepted it. What else could I do? But the day after I did… she somehow miraculously got better. The doctor said it was a blessing. I suppose I'm just grateful that Pitch held up his end of the deal. Now to do my half, I haven't told North or anyone about it, and it's probably best to keep it that way._

_Week 10: I have to say, we are back to paradise. Miya acts like nothing ever happened and Mary is as joyful as ever. I've felt a little strange though; I don't know what he did to me. Apparently, I was sleeping when he did it. Kind of creepy, but whatever. All that matters is that she's okay. _

So Pitch cured me...?

_Week 11: I'm having horrible nightmares… the most vivid ones I have are of me hurting my family. I suspect Pitch has something to do with it. Also my wife noticed that I was a bit off today. I want to ask him about it, but that's a no go. He shrugs me off every time._

_Another strange thing is that one of my eyes is slightly discolored, normally both are blue. But one is a greenish blue instead, these things happen as you grow older right?_

_Week 12: It's grown to be rather difficult for me to sleep at night now. I only get about one to three hours of sleep a night. This is due to my increasing nightmares that have worsened. I feel like I am somehow slowly losing my mind... but of course I play it off to my family that I'm fine. The last thing they need is to have to worry about me. _

_Also that eye that was green or whatever… is now yellow. The iris has turned a shade of goldish yellow and the pupil is narrow, similar to a cats. My optician prescribed me with eye drops that should help. _

_Week 13: I don't know how much longer I can last... when I do get the little amounts of sleep I begin sleepwalking. My wife found me standing in the kitchen in the middle of the night. Now that's not odd, people sleepwalk all the time. But I was standing in front of the knife drawer, which worries me. Recently, I've had a couple blackouts as well. _

_I love my family so much and would protect them until the ends of the earth. But what if, just what if, I become the thing that wants to hurt them..? I refuse to let that happen._

The next entries were written very sloppy and rushed.

_Week 14: I am starting to lose my memory; I'm not that old though. 35 isn't old enough for Alzheimer's disease is it? Most of my memories of Miya as a toddler are nearly gone. One memory though, I swear I'll never forget._

_It was our first time taking Miya to the beach. The day was warm and bright, she was so amazed to see the sea. I remember her turning to me and saying with the biggest smile, "Daddy look! It never stops! It keeps going and going"! _

_Throughout the day, I don't think I've ever seen her so amazed at anything before. To her, this was a new and exciting place; that she never knew even existed. It warmed my heart to see her so happy. _

_We ended up staying there all day._

_She wanted a house on the beach so every day she could look at the stars right at the sun was going down. I promised her that maybe someday we could have a house like that._

_I promise I will never forget that memory; it's one of the most important to me. I'll replay it every day in my head if that's what it comes to. _

_Week 15: This is it. This will definitely be my last entry. These voices in my head tell me to cruel things to them. I don't know what to do about it._

_I told them, the guardians everything… They were less than happy._

_The other day though, Miya hugged me and I felt an overwhelming feeling of hate and disgust. What kind of father am I? What father doesn't love hugs from their kids? _

_I have a feeling that everything that's been happening to me origins to my deal with Pitch. The blackouts have gotten worse. For example, today I had no memory of the first half of the day. I worry I'll end up giving into the damned voices in my head. I'm scared….scared for them…their sake._

_Despite everything, I have no regrets about making that deal with Pitch. If keeping my dearest baby girl safe meant me losing my mind, then so be it._

_Mary, Miya, sorry if I act out foolishly. I love you both dearly. _

That's the last entry. The rest of it contained information about Gatekeepers.

I set the book down and wiped away the tears from my eyes. Dad... What happened to you?


	5. Chapter 5

"You don't think that I'm being harsh do you?" Mary asked James, "She only wants to know about her father, I just don't feel that I'm ready to tell her the full story".

"Why don't you tell her that?" he replied, "You have been keeping it from her for so long. You always put it off for later. Eventually the truth will have to come out".

She sighed, "I know it's just that…"

James held her close, "You know I'm not trying to pressure you. This is a matter between the two of you".

"I...I know".

I had a bad headache. As I lay in my bed looking up at the ceiling I thought, it's strange sitting in my room in complete silence. I'm so used to having music; it's like my room is a foreign place without it.

It gave me time to think again, why won't she just tell me? He was MY dad after all; doesn't a daughter have the right to know? It's like she's trying to erase him from my life. But he's like an old scar in my mind. The kind where you don't remember much of it, or what happened. Yet, it doesn't go away, it won't just magically disappear.

I felt irritated, you know what? She always says that she'll tell me when I'm older, or that she'd tell me tomorrow.

Tomorrow never came. It never did no matter how many times she'd said it.

I've been asking about him for as long as I can remember. Well I'm done waiting! I've gotten as far as I possibly could on my own. All I need is that closure of what it was. How will I get her to finally do it?

I grabbed my father's journal from under the floor board, and stormed down the stairs. James was walking down the hall.

"Where's my mom?" I demanded.

"Whoa there, someone fell off the grumpy train." I gave him a dirty look then continued down the hall.

"She's in the living room." He stated as I was reaching the end of the hall. I stopped, and then continued without looking back.

When I made it the living room, she looked at me in the doorway, a bit startled, "What is it".

I had a frown plastered across my face. Immediately I walked up and slammed the journal on the coffee table in front of her.

Her face dropped, "Y...you found this...in…in the attic didn't you?"

"Have you even read it?" I said angrily.

"I did, once. But I couldn't make sense of it. I mean Jack Frost, North, guardians? Those are fairy tales".

"I don't care about that. I'm sick and tired of waiting!" my voice started shaking, "I… I want to know now! Not tomorrow, not when I'm older. I have waited long enough"!

My mom was silent for a moment; she walked to the wall and pulled a picture frame off the wall, which revealed a hole behind it. Then, pulled out a newspaper and handed it to me, "If you want to know what happened so badly…Ju...just read this".

She walked out of the room, leaving me alone with it. I sat down and started to read. The headline said "_Local man arrested for attempted murder!"_

My heart dropped. But I didn't stop.

"_This week a local father attempted to murder his daughter of only 5 years old. (Names have been asked to be kept anonymous by family members) The father made attempt to hit his daughter with his car. Police report says that he had placed large headphones over his daughter's ears, made her face the street, and told her to wait at the end of the driveway for a "surprise". He then proceeded to get into his car in his garage, and was building up speed._

_Thankfully before the vehicle could reach her, a family friend ran to pick her up and ran out of the way. We interviewed the friend to see what he had to say about the situation._

"_At first I thought that maybe he didn't see his daughter. But when I picked her up and moved out of the way, he turned around tried to hit me and his daughter with the car. I barely managed to move out of the way on the second time. He ran into the streetlight and passed out by the looks of it"._

_He then proceeded to run inside the house and contacts local authorities. The police were quick to arrive on the scene and took him into custody. Shortly after the mother arrived home, she was shocked to hear the news and said this in an interview:_

"_I can't believe it; he was acting strange as of late. But never had I imagined that he'd try to murder our only daughter". After that, she refused to be asked anything else._

I skipped a few lines and found the last thing written.

"_After many tests, the father was diagnosed with insanity, and moved to an asylum"._

My mom was in the doorway, looking at me sympathetically.

"I thought you said he died." I mumbled fighting the tears that were trying to escape my eyes.

"He really did love you. That's all I ever said. You drew your own conclusions." She began to hug me, "Do you understand now? Why I never told you"?

"Y...yes".

"You know, James was the family friend they talk about".

I understood now, why she wanted me to call him dad. He was more fatherly in the end. He was the one that stood between me and death.

I pulled myself out of my mother's hug and said that I needed a minute. She nodded her head, and I quickly returned to my room. I burst into tears, who wouldn't?

No

Stop

Just stop

I am not going to do this; I just shut my eyes and eventually fell asleep.

After about an hour, I awoke by Emma grabbing my sleeve. I looked out my window, there was no light coming in through the blinds, the sun must've just went down.

"Sis, do you know what's wrong with mommy? She looks all sad".

"She just….. Something happened that made her sad that's all".

"Why? What happened?"

"Um, don't worry about it, she'll be fine. She's just having one of her 'moments' again". I gave her my best reassuring smile.

"Ok if you say so".

James voice called to Emma and me from down the hall, "Hey girls! Take a look out the window"!

Emma quickly ran to my window and peeked out the blinds.

"SNOW! Sissy! Sissy! It's snowing!" she was practically screaming it.

Wow it was the beginning of November and already we got snow?

"Well that came early this year. Normally we don't get it until late November".

"It's just like Sophie's big brother said! Jack Frost came early this year"!

Jack Frost? Now why was that familiar?

"How would her big brother know"?

"Because Jack is his friend! He told him he would come early this year"!

"Uh huh ok, why don't you go downstairs and show mom"?

"Okay! Good idea sis! That will make her happy again"!

She ran out of my room and I closed the door behind her. I decided to take a look out the window to see just how hard it was snowing.

"Whoa..." I said aloud.

If it continued like this tomorrow, there would be enough snow to make schools cancel. Didn't really matter because my school was on a break anyway, but Emma would benefit from it.

Jack Frost…? Oh! My dad mentioned him! He said something about making winter mild? If he was real just as Pitch was, he must've been in town by now. Tomorrow Emma will probably want to play in the snow anyway. So maybe I can try to distinguish him? If he's real that is.

My mom then walked into my room holding my headphones and music player. We didn't exchange words; she just placed them on my dresser.

When she was about to walk out I finally said, "Mom…thank you, I know it was hard for you".

Without turning around she said, "It was hard for you to, not knowing all this time. I want you to know that, and I'm sorry for keeping you in the dark". She then proceeded to shut the door.

I smiled; everything would've been back in order if it wasn't for the thoughts of what I saw in that cave.

All that can wait though, that night I fell asleep to the comfort of my music. Just like every other.


	6. Chapter 6

**Blecchhh Sorry for such a late posting, I've been trying to post daily. I was super busy today; the first thing I did when I got free time was finish/edit this chapter. But thanks for the reviews, it help a lot! :3 I wasn't sure what people would think because it was different. But that's really what I'm trying to aim for. Lately things seemed to be getting a little cliché, when it came to ROTG. So I thought I'd try for something new, completely. And heads up for later, this will definitely not be a Jack x OC story in case you're wondering. Anyywayy, thank you again for the support, I appreciate it and please, enjoy the next chapter! (:**

* * *

Just as I thought.

A fresh blanket of snow covered the town. Emma was already begging to go play; my door was cracked open, so it wasn't hard to hear.

I could hear my mom, "Wait until your sister wakes up, then she'll take you".

Emma started pouting. Guess this means I should get dressed. I put on a pair of mid- shin high black winter boots, blue skinny jeans, a black long- sleeve shirt, along with my white jacket on top, a long white and black striped scarf, black gloves, and to top it all of my traditional headphones.

All just in time for Emma to come running into my room ready to wake me up.

"BIG SI- oh"

I started laughing "Well you look ready to go, I'm going to grab some breakfast and then we can go okay?"

"What happened to your eye sis?"

"What are you talking about?" I looked in the mirror and froze.

"Sis, I thought you sai-"

I covered my mouth to hide my shock. "Umm can you do me a favor and bring me some toast?"

"Um ok sis". She walked out and closed the door. I leaned in and looked to examine it closer. My right eye had changed colors over night. It went from a deep blue; to a gold yellow… the pupil had narrowed as well. Just like his.

Quickly, I found a medical patch from the bathroom and taped it over that eye. I went downstairs to see Emma waiting for the toast in the toaster. She looked at me strangely. Before she could speak the toast popped up, where she jumped and gasped.

I started laughing, "Emma let's keep my eye our little secret ok?"

"O…ok sis." She said questioningly. Then, she distracted herself with the burdening task of spreading butter. That's what she made it look like at least.

My mom then walked in, I was careful to be facing her on my left side. I took my piece of toast and ate as fast as I could.

"Yeah, I don't want to keep Emma waiting to go. Let's go". I rushed out the door holding onto her arm.

"Well be safe okay? Ice can be slippery!" my mom yelled as we were walking down the driveway.

"Ok ok we will!"

As we continued walking down the sidewalk Emma's excitement was taking a hold of her.

"Woooooow! Sis look at all the snow!'

"Yeah don't act like you've never seen it before. So where do we meet your friends?"

"Oh this way!" she was staring at me pointing.

"Well? Lead the way, Capitan!"

Emma gave me a big smile and began to run off and I made sure to stay behind her. We arrived at a little park where her friend Sophie was waiting with her mom. She ran off to play, and Sophie's mom said that she could drive Emma home.

Not too far away I saw a little brown haired boy run over a snow-covered hill with a couple of his friends.

Sophie's mom yelled to them, "Play safe you guys! Don't go too far"!

So that must be where her brother is. I went to go see if this Jack Frost was really a thing.

"Ok who needs ammo?" Jack yelled as he ran along the sidelines, making snowballs for Jamie and his friends.

"I call those ones!" yelled Jamie.

'No way!" Monty protested.

"First come, first serve!" Pippa protested.

They raced to get the fresh snowballs, for the first snowball fight was about to break out.

When I reached the top of the hill, I looked down and around, it was weird not looking at things with two eyes. But I only saw kids. All in the midst of a fierce snowball fight. I went down and the brown haired boy looked at me, "Times guys!" and the snowballs stopped flying.

"You're Sophie's brother right?"

"Yeah, I'm Jamie and these are my friends."

"Hi, I'm Emma's sister. Miya." Emma had been over to their house plenty of times before so he knew her well.

"Well, uh nice to meet you."

Jack was so busy making snowballs he didn't noticed the war stopped, "Hey what's the hold up?!" he yelled.

"Just a second!" Jamie proceeded to yell.

I gave him a confused look then got down on one knee, "You know, you got Emma super excited when you told her Jack Frost was coming".

Jack flew over and proceeded to eavesdrop.

"Uhm, I'm sorry?"

"No don't apologize. I actually wanted to thank you. But can I ask you, who is Jack Frost exactly?"

Jack looked at her weird, "Why does some teenager, want to know who I am? They stop believing." Jack waved his hand in front of the girl's face; "She doesn't seem to see me".

"Uh, Jamie"? I questioned.

Jamie looked at Jack giggled, then back at me, "No offense, but why do you want to know? Don't most teenagers stop believing in these things?"

I looked over in the direction that Jamie looked and assumed her was looking over at his friends, "Uh well you know…. Curiosity?" I felt flustered, "Umm... just never mind forget I asked".

I began to walk away when Jamie said, "He's the guardian of fun".

More guardian stuff, I turned my head and looked at him with my one blue eye, "Thanks". Then proceeded to find a bench that was facing into the park.

"That was weird huh Jack?" Jamie said.

"Yeah… well guess what?" he enthusiastically said.

"What"?

Jack proceeded to drop a snowball on his head and the fight continued.

I started playing my music, when I felt odd. I looked over towards the woods and saw a pair of yellow eyes looking my way.

Jack took a look at the girl who was now staring into the woods. She looked… scared.

Those are Pitch's woods.

He went over to investigate. Jamie and company were too caught up in their snowball fight to notice his departure.

Pitch looked and saw the guardian of fun heading his way. He smirked at the girl who now knows he was not bound to his hole. Then, disappeared into the darkness of the forest that had, now a blanket of snow over it.

Jack didn't see anything when he arrived. He looked at the girl who took a deep breath then looked down.

"JACK! ARE YOU GIVING UP? THIS MEANS YOU LOOSE. YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT?" Jamie yelled over.

Both Miya and Jack looked over at Jamie.

Jack laughed, "NO WAY"! The wind picked him up and rocketed towards the kids.

When the wind hit Miya she felt the wind go into her eyes.

Both of them.

Wha? No! I tried reaching out as my eye patch blew away in the wind, but it was gone. I sighed; I suppose I should try to get another one at home without mom or James noticing.

I took one last look at Jamie and his friends. Only this time, it wasn't just them. There was a teenage boy with wielding a staff. He resembled the character on the walls, the one I didn't know about.

Could that be him? Jack Frost? He looked like he was just a teenager though.

Jack then looked over and saw the girl staring right at him. Both of them were surprised. He flew to the other side of the snowball fight, and her eyes followed.

I stood up, not taking my eyes off him. What would I do, just walk up to him? His presence didn't feel the same as the shadow man's though. Instead I felt calm, not scared. Then I realized I was probably being creepy, my cheeks reddened in embarrassment, and shielded my eyes from him.

"Does she see me?" Jack said out loud. He was then met with a snowball to the back of the head.

"Ha-Hey!"

When he looked back over she was walking away with her hand blocking the side of her face.

Jamie's mom called over him and his friends. It was around lunch time now so they looked like they were leaving. Jack said his goodbyes and flew around to where that girl was walking. He saw her turn the corner and followed. Then, he flew down and landed in front of her.

"Whoa, you have a yellow eye." Was the first thing he said. She glared at him for a second. Her look went blank right after, she was just staring at this point.

"Y-you.." she said.

"Me? Well as you probably guessed, I'm Jack Frost. But who are you? I don't believe I caught your name".

"It...It's… Miya."

"Why are you so shy all of the sudden?"

"It's not shy…it's…surprise." Her voice was quiet.

"Why?"

She rubbed the back of her neck looking for words, "I… uh.. didn't know you existed."

"I could tell, you looked right at me earlier but you didn't seem to see me. Most teens don't".

She looked at the icy sidewalk, "Of course they don't".

"Tell me. What were you looking at in the woods? You seemed scared." Jack asked.

Her eyes widened, and she tensed up.

She took a deep breath and relaxed, "A man. He doesn't seem too friendly. I've met him once before."

Could it be..? No, we defeated him.

"He was.. Tall, wore all black, and had yellow eyes… I think his name was…uh...Pitch".

His smile vanished, "What?! I… I've got to tell the others"!

"Huh"?

Jack then took off into the wind and was gone.

Just like that, he was gone. What's up with him? Also, others..? At this point, I was used to it, and pushed the thought out of my mind.

I continued my way to the city. It's not far from the suburbs. I was going to wait for my parents to be gone before going home, so I could avoid having to sneak around. Though I couldn't help but feel that I would meet that boy again.


	7. Chapter 7

I entered the city part our little town. After seeing another one of them, and him again... I just wanted to surround myself with people. A strange feeling for me, I didn't talk to anyone but I grazed the streets relaxed at if anything happened people were around to see it.

But that's not how things work.

I stopped and glanced across the street, there he was again standing in an alleyway. I quickly entered the nearest store. It was a coffee shop.

The first thing I noticed was the piano music; it was beautiful. I always admired the piano; it was such a graceful instrument. I always wanted to learn how to play, but I never got around to it.

The lady playing had silky black hair pinned up in a flower hairpin. She was slim, wearing an elegant light green gown and she was deeply lost in her playing. I pulled up a chair to a table where the blinds were down, I didn't want to ruin the moment with the fear of being watched.

About ten minutes passed when she stopped playing and started packing up her things. Maybe I should make my way home. When I opened the door, I gave a sigh of relief. He wasn't there; I began my walk home, staring at the sidewalk.

I had only taken a couple steps when I felt a chill run down my spine. Suddenly I got an overwhelming sense of fear. Glancing to my right, he was there and yet again and I was paralyzed.

I was about to drop to my knees when a hand grabbed my arm and held me up. The feelings of being terrified all just disappeared in an instant.

"Hey, are you okay"? The voice was soft and calm. I looked behind me and I saw it was the lady that was playing the piano earlier. Seeing her up close, I could see she had warm vibrant green eyes and wore a locket necklace.

"I.. um.." I looked over and saw he was still there, but I didn't feel afraid. The lady noticed my staring and looked in the direction I was, her expression was completely blank. Pitch gave me a dissatisfied look then disappeared into the shadows.

"Do you mind if I walk you home?" she said.

"Oh okay, thank you".

The walk home was completely silent. We walked side by side, but she didn't look down at me once. She pulled her long black hair out of its bun, but that was completely it. Soon, we arrived at my house.

"Well, this is-" I stopped speaking. She took a glance at me, but didn't stop walking. I saw my mom who was looking at me through the kitchen window. When I looked forward to see if the lady was going to stop, she was gone. Out of sight completely.

A bit confused, I walked inside and greeted my mom.

"Hey, did you see that lady that was with me"?

"What? What are you talking about"?

"The person that was with me before I walked up to the house".

"There was no lady with you. Are you feeling okay"?

Quickly, I ran outside the front door again and ran in the direction she went. After about a block, I stopped to catch my breath. I noticed on the ground was the same flower pin that held her hair up.

I picked it up and looked at it, right as my mother's car pulled up.

"What was that all about?" her voice sounded irritated, "Don't go running off like that"!

"S- Sorry..." I muttered.

We now were driving home.

"You're not going to saw anything? About my eye?" I asked my mom.

"Well it happened to your father, so I always assumed your eye would change".

"And it's not weird to you"?

"Why would it be weird? If you're father had it, would it not make sense for you to have a different colored eye? It's genetics, that's all".

"O-okay".

We then arrived home and I was somewhat pleased on how my mom didn't freak out.

* * *

The workshop was hectic, with Christmas just around the corner; things were kicked into overdrive. Toys being painted, sled polished, and cookies baked. Jack came bursting through the doors.

North met him with a surprised look, "Welcome Jack! What brings you to the pole? We are bit busy now. Buuuut I can take little break". Many yetis were staring and jack took notice.

"Can we talk somewhere a little more private?" he asked quietly. North silently nodded, the two went into North's main office.

"What is it Jack"?

"I think Pitch is back again".

North's look hardened, "We thought this might happen".

"What do you mean"?

"We should gather others first".

North then proceeded to walk out of the room straight to the northern lights button and hit it.

In no time flat, the other guardians arrived.

"What is it now?" Bunny annoyingly asked. A question mark floated over Sandy's head.

"Go on Jack." North said pushing him up a bit.

" I..I think Pitch is back".

Toothania gasped, "Already"?

"How would you know if Pitch was back?" Bunny questioned.

"I heard from one of Jamie's friends, she said she saw a tall man dressed in black with yellow eyes! It has to be him"!

Bunny sighed, "I suppose it was gunna happen soon anyway".

"Do we really need to fix the seal already?" Tooth asked.

"We all know it wasn't done properly the last time." North sighed.

"Um hey! No we ALL don't, what are you talking about?" Jack questioned.

"No time to waste. We will explain everything on the way." North added, "No big deal".

In no time at all, they were flying through the air.

Jack then proceeded to ask, "So can someone tell me what's going on"?

Tooth said, " You see every time we defeat Pitch there has always been someone with an ability to kind of lock him in his lair. It's like a seal so he can't escape, but over time it wares off".

Bunny added, "And the last time we beat him, the guy wasn't there to re-enforce it. North do you even know where he is"?

North gave him a weird look, "OF course I do! We are almost there too"!

Soon the five landed in front of a house in the suburbs.

* * *

They all walked up to the door.

"North you sure this is the right place?" Bunny asked.

"Yes yes yes, I'm positive"!

Our doorbell rang; I went to the bottom of the stairs and glanced at the front door.

James yelled "I got it! I got it"! When he opened the door, five figures were standing at the front door.

Bunny said, "See? That's not him! I told you we weren't at the right place"!

James didn't seem to see them because he stuck his head out then said curiously, "Hello"?

My mouth dropped open. Then I noticed in the back of the little crowd was the white haired boy I met earlier.

He looked at me and said, "Miya"?

James closed the door and said, "Some kids must've thought it'd be funny to play ding dong ditch".

He doesn't see them..?

After he left I rushed and cracked the front door, I was bending down so I had to look up.

A big man in red greeted me, "Ah! Is there a man named Alex here little girl"?

I then stood up fully and stepped outside. When I fully turned to face them, they immediately noticed my yellow eye.

"You must be his daughter! Is your father home? We must speak to him. Important guardian business".

I just stood there leaning against the door in awe, staring wide eyed at the man.

Jack whispered loudly with one hand on the side of his mouth, "Hey you're doing the whole staring thing again".

I shook my head, "S-sorry, he doesn't live here anymore". North looked displeased.

"Oh, very sorry. Do you know where he is then"?

"Hold on" I said. I hurried inside grabbed my dad's journal and ran back out handing it to him.

North skimmed through it and sighed, "I see".

"Uh yeah. Sorry".

Jack stepped forward, "Describe that man you saw to them"?

I told them my description.

"North, that means.." Bunny said, "She.."

"I know I know".

Tooth and Sandy were reading the journal in the back while the three in front talked to me.

"Can you come with us to the pole?" North questioned.

"Excuse me? The"?

"Augh, I will explain later". I was then rushed through a portal the man opened when he threw the snow globe on the ground.

"Wha- Where am I"? Colors were flying everywhere.

So many toys and giant yeti things with smaller triangle people. I assumed they were the elves. There was a giant globe with bright lights on it in the center of the room. I was getting a sense of déjà vu.

Jack laughed, "Welcome to the Pole".


	8. Chapter 8

As we walked through the halls of the giant workshop, I was thinking that my past child self and Emma would be so jealous right now! I would be mad about getting kind of kidnapped, but I thought I'd just let it slide for now.

"Soooooo why exactly am I here?" I asked.

"We need to keep you in a, well safe place." North replied.

"I think my mom will freak out if I'm not home soon though".

"No no, do not worry. We take care of evvveerryythhinngg".

"If you say so".

Before the others had a chance to say anything, there was a loud bang coming from bottom floor. Soon, elves and yeti's rushed past; one yeti stopped and started speaking to North in some foreign language.

"Oh no.." North said. He drew his swords and yelled "Nightmares? Here"?!

"You should stay in North's office mate, you're better off hiding." Bunny said to me.

"Well glad to be of help." I said sarcastically, a Yeti then guided me to his office and shut the door behind me.

The guardians jumped and flew over the railing and were met with night mares coming out of the shadows. North began to rush into the battle and swung his swords valiantly. The others followed close behind. Egg bombs were flying, ice shards flew all over the floor.

After fighting what seemed like countless night mares.

"North look! They're goin' up the stairs!" Bunny yelled.

"I got it!" Jack yelled. He flew up to the second floor and cut the night mares off at the top of the stairs, freezing them in their tracks. Right as Jack turned around three more came charging at Jack.

They were quickly put in their place against Sandman's whip. The two hurried along the floor wiping out as many as possible while North, Tooth and Bunny held their ground on the first floor.

I had been sitting in the office room for about ten minutes, due to my impatience I peeked out the door. Seeing that it was empty, I stepped out into the hallway. I looked over the railing and saw about one story down Jack and Sandman were fighting horses from black sand.

Then, I looked to my right and saw two of the horses coming my way.

"Uh oh", I said out loud.

I quickly ran up the stairs and into the nearest room.

Next, I put my ear up to the door and heard the galloping go past me. Maybe I should just go back to North's office while I have a chance. When I hurried down the stairs I saw Jack and Sandman making their way up the stairs chasing more horses.

When, I opened the door and frantic voice came from where I had just come from, "Miya! Thank god I found you!"

I turned my head and looked over, without a doubt I knew who it was; his mismatched eyes made it clear, "D-Dad?! H- How are you here"?!

"That doesn't matter right now! Come with me! It's not safe here anymore"! He held out his hand, "I'll take us somewhere that is"!

I walked over and was about to grab is hand when I stopped to notice that, my hand was shaking. I feel uneasy and looked at him again, "Is…Is it really you"?

"W-What? Of course it's me! Hurry they're coming"!

As I was ready to take his hand I heard shouting from the end of the hall, "MIYA! STOP"!

"J-Jack"? I questioned, turning my head to see the two running my way.

Then my dad grabbed my wrist and was trying to pull me with him. He had a look of anger, "You ARE coming with me"!

"Wha- Stop! Dad! Stop it"!

I resisted all I could, I even tried sitting down, but he started dragging me.

Jack shot out ice that hit the man in the back, stopping him briefly. I managed to slip free of his grip jut a he stopped trying to run. I immediately backed up towards Jack and Sandman.

Jack grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him and sandman. Sandman proceeded to send flying golden sand at him. The man exploded into black sand, and disappeared. I watched in awe, that mass of sand looked exactly like a real living person; yet it was a fake.

We then were surrounding by tons of black horses. Sandman was finished with this, he made a giant bomb in golden sand then it went off and completely covered the workshop in his bright sand. When he collected it all again, the night mares were gone. Things calmed down, and the Yetis and elves returned.

"What were you thinking!?" Jack yelled at me.

"What?" I said.

North and the others then met with us, "That was too close, please come with me". He walked us into a big room with yet the big murals all over the walls. He showed me the one of his workshop, it was faded and the paint looked cracked.

"Why'd you bring me here"?

"To fix seal of course".

"Huh"?

"You can fix the seal so no more nightmares can make it in here." Tooth said.

"How exactly do I do that"?

Tooth, Bunny, North, and Sandman gave me a worried look.

"What? You mean to tell me you don't know how to?" Bunny angrily said.

I was lost for words; I had no idea what to do. I lied, "W- well, I could try I guess".

All eyes were on me, "I uhh don't do well with an audience".

Bunny rolled his eyes. A yeti came down and started yelling something at North worriedly.

"What?" North got a confused look on his face. Then, he followed the Yeti back to the workshop.

"North? Hey! Wait!" Bunny yelled. The rest of them went to see what was going on. Jack glanced at me one last time before heading to the main room.

I was alone. I looked up at the worn painting on the wall, what am I suppose to do? Fix the seal? I still don't know what they're talking about.

I sighed, and grazed its dry chipping paint. I sat leaning on the painting, and curled up in a ball. Placing my headphones over my ears, I zoned out the world getting lost in my music once again.

Thinking about everything that was happening was overwhelming. I was confused and didn't know what I got myself into. The song I was listening to lightened up my mood a bit. My mom used to sing it to me before I went to sleep at night. It was during the time my dad had already left and it was just me and her. She said it would make it so that I would never have a nightmare, and I never did.

When my dad was with us, he would be the one who normally tucked me in at night. That much I remember about him, but I always had overly frightening nightmares. Though I guess that the whole thing that happened with him explained why. The change after he left was apparent though, after he left so did the nightmares. Go figure huh?

I looked up and smiled, thinking about how relaxing the song was. Then there was a light above and behind me, I got up and turned around.

The painting was glowing and covered in light. When it faded away, it was like the painting was brand new. I gasped, then smiled and started laughing, I..I did it. I have no idea how, but I did it, I think.

Bunny, Tooth, Sandman, and Jack finally caught up to North in the front hall.

"What's going on North?" Tooth asked.

Right as North opened his mouth to speak, a voice yelled down to them, "Heeeelllllllllllllllllllooooooooo fellow guardians"!

Bunny looked up in confusion, "Is that... Cupid"?

"Excuse me?" Jack yelled, "FELLOW guardians"?


	9. Chapter 9

Cupid was a boy that was a little taller than Jack with soft pink hair and deep red eyes. He wore a white suit with a red tie and black fancy shoes. He had white wings that had a tint of pink on the inside. Finally, he carried a brown quiver that was always stocked with arrows.

"Well, Jack it's nice to see you too. I see you haven't changed one bit." Cupid sarcastically remarked.

"You are NOT a guardian." Jack firmly stated, he looked at North for confirmation.

"Man in moon hasn't said anything about new guardian." North said.

Jack laughed in triumph, "HA! NOT a guardian. The man in the moon chooses the guardians and you are NOT one".

"Pish posh, I don't need approval from him to be one little boy" Cupid smiled.

"I am 317 years old! I don't think that counts as_ little_".

Cupid began to laugh, "It is to me, 518, so show some respect"!

Jack proceeded to throw a snowball at him.

"Jack you are such an immature child!" he sighed wiping the snow off his face.

"Takes one to know one!" he replied, "And since when do YOU care about kids"?

"That's what I'm wondering", Bunny added.

"It's more the title." said Cupid.

"What?" Bunny and Jack said.

"Think about it." Cupid said grabbing Tooth and flying the two of them, hovering above the globe. His eyes shined from the lights of the globe. She was leaning back in his arms, as he looked at her with a deep gaze.

"What ARE you doing?!" Jack yelled.

"Females like a feeling of safety", not taking his eyes off Tooth; she began to blush and he pulled her closer.

"The title of guardian only amplifies the feeling of that safety." He said softly not taking his eyes off Tooth. Then he span her around and flew back to the others where while Tooth was still floating and spinning above the globe.

"So you see? That's all I need." he finished calmly.

Jack looked disgusted then crossed his arms turning away, "Well, too bad. That's not how it works".

Bunny laughed, "I say we let him".

"What!?" Jack yelled, "North a little help"?

North then looked to the pink haired boy, "Please give us minute to talk".

Cupid shrugged, "Very well, I'll just give myself the grand tour!"

After Cupid left the room, Bunny said, "If it bugs Frost, then I'm all in".

Jack gave him a cold look.

North then broke the silence, "We all know how he is. He does not take no for answer".

"So let him pretend," Bunny said, "Wait until he gets bored with it".

North looked to Sandman and Tooth, "What do you two think"?

Tooth was still a bit dazed from earlier, "As long as he helps the kids"!

Sandman shrugged and with his gold sand made pictures of Cupid, Pitch, and a question mark in between.

"Yeah, how could he possibly help against Pitch?" Jack protested.

"You don't have to worry about that mate." Bunny said.

"So it is decided. We will let him be 'guardian' for a while." North said.

Jack rolled his eyes then crossed his arms in disapproval.

Miya had her eyes closed; still sitting by the paintings listening to her music was waiting the return of the others.

Cupid entered the room, "Who is that"? His eyes grew wide, "She looks just like my dearest that I've been looking for"! He was very overdramatic.

"Huh", she opened her eyes and looked at him. He stopped and froze staring at her yellow eye. "So close, AUUGGHH". He started yelling, but Miya couldn't hear it over her headphones.

"SO CLOSE! STUPID YELLOW EYE! SHE WAS SO CLOSE"! He stormed out as Tooth and the others came down.

Miya's eyes were wide, "What's his problem"?

"You didn't hear any of that did you?" Tooth asked worried.

"Hear what"?

She sighed in relief, "Oh don't worry about it".

Cupid was at the top of the stairs, "What's the verdict"?

"You're in." Bunny replied.

He smiled, "Very well I'm off then".

"Hey hey not so fast!" Jack cut him off mid flight, "You have to actually work for this ya know"?

Cupid glared at him, "What"?

Everyone gathered in the main room.

"Miya, this is Cupid, he is the spirit of Love." Tooth said.

Miya brought her hand up, "Nice to meet you".

He stared at it then looked down, "Y-you even sound like her".

"E-excuse me"?

He looked at her then turned away, "Nice to meet you".

There was silence for a minute.

Jack broke the silence, "Huh, for a spirit of love you're certainly lacking".

Cupid looked out the window silently.

"Cupid, Pitch is back." Tooth said.

His gaze hardened, "What? How"?

"He wasn't sealed last time he was beaten. This girl has the ability to fix it".

He immediately looked at her, he rushed over grabbed her hand and bowed, "Please, forgive my rudeness; I got caught up in a memory".

"Um it's fine".

"Now back to the matters at hand, will I have to call Trick"?

"No no no, this is not that serious." Bunny replied, "Listen I've got to run, I've got stuff to do at the Warren". Bunny then made a large hole in the ground and left.

"So what are we going to do?" Miya said.

"You are not strong enough to seal him away just yet." North said, "So you start by going to Bunny's warren and Tooth's palace. Then you fix the seals there. Return here after and we can talk about it then".

"So we can all just go until then?" Cupid asked. North nodded his head and they all departed.

Miya made her way down to the painting that looked like Bunny.

She closed her eyes, placed her hands on it then a light flashed.

When she opened them, she was at an underground tunnel that led to beautiful greenery. She felt a pain in her chest, but dismissed it.

Quickly Miya placed her hands on Bunny's chipped painting and restored it. It seemed easy now, though she still didn't know how she did it. She just thought about it being fixed and it magically did it.

"Well I suppose I could say hi to him." Miya said aloud.

After walking a good distance around his beautiful home she found him talking to someone.

A lady with long black hair that seemed to defy gravity the ends floated up and down. She wore a long light green dress. The two looked at Miya.

"Are you that one lady I met at the coffee shop?" Miya asked.

She looked at her blankly and floated off, she looked like she was about to walk into a tree. Instead, she walked right through it and disappeared.

"What are you doing here mate?" Bunny asked.

"I uh fixed your seal".

"Oh, well thank you for that".

"Who was that"?

"That was mother nature".

Miya looked at the tree she went through in awe, "Wow, why was she here"?

"We were discussing plans for Easter".

"Oh, did I interrupt? Sorry". The two started walking throughout the Warren.

"No no no, we were done. Don't take her leaving offensive. She really only talks to the people she has to".

"Why is that"?

"Well, I dunno. She tends to keep to herself".

Miya looked down, "Oh well you know, you know you seem different here".

"You can call me Bunny mate, and why is that"?

"You just don't seem as…well…tough." She quickly added, "No offense".

He laughed, "I am only tough when I have to be".

"When have to be..?"

"Yeah, there was a time when all of us had to be".

"When was that"?

"We call it the Dark Ages. It was the time when Pitch ruled over almost everything. This world was covered his little nightmares".

"And you guys beat him then"?

He laughed, "Well it wasn't easy, I can tell you that".

"Oh… well, this place then. It wasn't like this before"?

"Heh not at all. You can thank Mother Nature for that. She fixed it up to look just like this. Pretty ain't it"?

"Yeah, it must've taken a lot for her to do this".

"Maybe, but she's very powerful".

"Then… have you guys ever asked her to help you with Pitch"?

"No, after the Dark Ages, she said she wanted nothing to do with him. That we could handle it from there on out".

"Why do you think she said that"?

"Beats me, but hey if you're fixin' up the seals you should head over to Tooth's palace. She may need you".

"Yeah..."

Bunny showed the girl to Tooth's painting, but she fell to the floor.

"Oye! You alright mate?"

"My… my chest.." she felt like she couldn't breathe. The girl then slipped unconscious.


	10. Chapter 10

I was flying through a bright blue sky, the wind was blowing through my hair and I felt carefree. This was something I haven't felt in a while, and it was truly amazing. In a flash, it all changed, I suddenly started falling unable to stop myself. My bright blue sky turned into a dark gray limbo. I turned myself over so I was now falling face down, panic spread through my body; the ground below me had sharp rocks point. Is this it? Am I going to die….?

As the rocks were now only a few yards away, I closed my eyes and curled into a ball. After a few moments I no longer felt the wind tearing at my body. I opened my eyes and looked around. Everything around me just felt empty. I could look at my hands and body clearly so it wasn't dark. But everything, the sky, ground, and possible walls were black..pitch black.

"Hello again".

I whipped my body around to see none other than the King of Nightmares himself. He had a cruel smile panted on his face, he laughed, "Nowhere to run this time".

My body tensed, "W-what do you want from me?" my voice shook.

He began walking towards me and in return I backed up, keeping the distance in between the two of us steady. We were about a medium sized car length apart.

"I want you to stop your whole deal with the guardians".

"You're not my dad…. I don't have to listen to you".

"So would you rather hear it from him? Very well." He stopped and snapped his fingers.

My backing up then stopped when I bumped into something, I turned my head. My dad was standing behind me… my eyes widened and I fell back.

I turned my head away from him… I couldn't bear to look at him, if I did I felt like I would burst into tears if I did.

"What is this? Some kind of sick joke!?" I said angrily.

The impersonator of my dad then spoke, "Miya, please don't hang around them anymore. You might get hurt".

My whole body was shaking, only this time it was rage. My fists were clenched so tight I could feel my nails dig into my hang.

I stood up and looked at it, "Ironic for_ you_ to talk about my safety." I turned to Pitch and pointed at it, "And I'm well aware that.. That thing is NOT my dad".

He looked at it, "It's almost an exact copy though, so close to perfect". By the way he said it; he was pleased with his "work".

I yelled, "Why? Why are you doing this!? You made him go crazy right? Why did you do it!? What was so special about him?"

He smiled at me, "Here's the deal, cut off all connections you have with the guardians and I'll tell you everything you want to know".

I stood silent, looking at the ground.

He continued, "Besides, you're little sister is certainly missing you. Lately, the _poor_ little girl has been having _awful…. terrible _nightmares since you left".

"You leave her alone!" I growled.

"Oh? So you have a soft spot for her? How about this: Cut off her connection to the guardians as well and I'll keep my night mares off her".

"What? What do you mean cut off her connection..?" The realization hit me like a shovel to the head, "Wait… you don't mean..."

He shook his head, "But wouldn't you do anything? To keep her safe".

I looked at him questioningly, "H-how do I know you'll do as you say".

He bowed, "I give you my word", and he then held out a pale gray hand, "Now then, do we have a deal"?

Slowly, I put my hand out, and then stopped just a few inches away from his hand. Is it really worth it? To take away her belief when she's so young. He can be capable of so much though, if it means keeping her away from him then…

I grabbed his cold hand and we shook, so be it.

"Deal."

He smiled, "Then by tomorrow night, if she still believes in them, deal's off.

In a blink of an eye, he disappeared. A strong gust of wind started blowing me back. Then I flew off my feet and started flying back.

Then, I sat up a little too fast and I was a little lightheaded. I was in North's workshop again, there were bandages wrapped around my head and an icepack in my lap. It was... a dream? Does that mean the deal never happened? I sighed; I suppose all I can do is hope so.

"Ah! You are awake!" North and Bunny walked through the door.

"What happened mate? You completely collapsed on me back at the warren".

"Oh… sorry. I think I just exhausted myself."

North began taking the bandages off my head, "What is wrong"?

I looked up at him, "Oh- it's nothing".

"I can tell, there is something bothering you".

"Don't be shy to tell us mate" Bunny added.

I smiled at them, "It's nothing really".

North rolled his eyes and gave me a warming smile, "You can tell us anything you know. We will listen".

"I- I'm just homesick". I felt like a traitor, here they are supporting me and I made a deal with the enemy behind their back.

"Why didn't you just say so? I'll take ya home", said Bunny.

"O-ok," I got up out of the bed, "I'm sure I'm being missed".

Bunny opened up a giant hole beneath us and it was like a giant slide.

I smiled and put my hands up; Bunny looked at me and smiled. Soon enough we were back at my house.

"Thanks Bunny, and sorry for causing trouble" I said.

"It was no problem, you just take care".

He left through another tunnel.

I wanted to go check and see if that lady that was at the coffee shop was there.

When I arrived I said tons of girls my age crowding the shop. They were flooding in like some boy band was playing. There was a sign that read, _Karaoke Night, _is that what this was all about? I made my way inside, the girls around were crowding the stage. I tried listening to them girls around me to see what was going on.

"Is he going to sing another?"

"Ohhhh I hope he does."

"He's soooo cute."

"He looks like he's new in town."

I managed to push my way towards the stage to see what the fuss was about. On stage, I saw a familiar pink haired boy on the stage holding a guitar.

"Ok ladies, one more song then I'm done for tonight. Okay?" his voice was soft and calming.

The girls swooned and awed at him. I rolled my eyes, almost as if he saw that, he looked straight at me and laughed. I glared at him, and then he looked towards the crowd and started to play his guitar.

Then he began to sing, "Heart_ beats fast, colors and promises, how to be brave, how can I love when I'm afraid to fall watching you stand alllooonne_..."

He was a great singer, I'll give him that. While he continued singing I caught a glimpse of the woman playing the piano. She was just out the spotlight that was shining on the boy.

That was her; I walked over and stood closer to where she was playing. She looked at me and smiled. I then remember I had her pin in my pocket so I pulled it out and showed it to her. Then, I placed it on the counter behind me. She nodded her head, then closed her eyes and began playing again.

I took a glance at Cupid; he seemed to get really into his singing. After a few minutes he finished his song and said softly into the microphone, "That's all for tonight, goodnight to all of you. I wish to see you again soon".

The girls clapped and many even stood up, I waited behind while the others cleared out. I walked over to the piano and saw the lady was gone. The hairpin I left her was gone as well.

"So you stuck around to see me sing?" Cupid was behind me, smiling.

"Actually, I was here for someone else. But you were quite the heartthrob tonight".

He chuckled, "Of course, I always am. Being the spirit of love and all".

"How could they see you though? Don't you have to have believers and stuff"?

"It's only for the guardians, every other spirit can choose to be invisible or not".

"Oh, so you drew in the girls from just being visible"?

He grabbed my chin gently and pulled my face closer to his, "Heh, every girl loves a pretty face, so do us both a favor and try not to fall too hard for me".

I pulled my now red face away, "You don't have to worry about that".

"Just wait; it's only a matter of time. They _always _do".

"Why is that"?

"It's like how North always knows what kids want for Christmas, how Bunny know where to hide the eggs, even how Pitch knows people's greatest fears. I know what people want like in the opposite gender. How they like to be held, what they like to hear, all that stuff… It comes naturally".

"Yeah whatever. The suns going down, I'm gonna head home. Goodnight Cupid".

"Would you like me to walk you home?" his voice was soft and seductive, he grabbed my arm gently, and "Nightfall can be dangerous, you know?"

I pulled my arm away and started heading out the door, "Do what you want, I couldn't care less".

"See you around then," He said flatly.

When I arrived home, I sighed thinking about the dream again, I placed, my hand on the doorknob.

"_Don't forget our deal..." _a voice that seemed to come from everywhere said.

I hurried inside and closed the door.

'MIIYYYYAAA!" Emma came charging at me and jumped into my arms.

"How was grandma's house? She must've really missed you", my mom yelled from the living room.

Grandma's…? I read a note that was on the kitchen table,

_Sorry to kidnap her, but I wanted to spend some quality time with Miya._

_-B_

So this is what North meant, I laughed, "Great, she taught me how to sew and evveeryyythinngg".

"Sounds fuuuunnn." My mom sarcastically said.

"Well I'm exhausted, so I'm going to go to bed early tonight ok?"

"Goodnight, sleep tight dadada, Emma go brush your teeth and I'll tuck you in".

"Sis can you tuck me in tonight? Daddy's working late."

"O-ok" I followed her up the stairs.

Her room was filled with drawing of the Easter Bunny hiding eggs and Santa Clause putting presents under the tree.

"Oh sissy! I lost a tooth look!" She showed me her empty spot where the tooth once was.

"The tooth fairy will come tonight!"

"That's great Emma," I gave a false smile. She hopped in her bed and placed her tooth behind her pillow.

"Goodnight Emma, sweet dreams". I pulled her blanket up and kissed her forehead.

She shut her eyes, "Goodnight sissy. I missed you so much while you were gone".

"I missed you too..."

I went into my room and fell on my bed, crap! I forgot my headphones at the pole.

Oh well, I can survive one night right? Later I started drift off into sleep when I heard a voice that came from everywhere at once say, "_You have 22 hours..."_

I sighed and just before falling asleep I whispered, "I know…"


	11. Chapter 11

**Soooo sorry this took so long. I was out of town all weekend and forgot to update on that. Weelll here it is at least. So enjoy.**

* * *

I lifted my head to the morning light that peaked through my curtains. Emma could be heard playing in her dollhouse. My heart sank with the realization of what I had to do, I have all day. So I decided to put if off as I could. I walked in her room and sat down next to her.

She smiled at me, "Good morning big sis".

"Hi, Can I talk to you for a second"?

"Is something wrong"?

"No no no I just want to tell you that everything I do is to keep you safe, you know that right"?

She giggled, "You sound like mommy and daddy".

I relaxed a little, "Do I? Well I have to work on that then".

She hugged me, "Yeah I know that".

"Ok ok, I just wanted to tell you that". I got up and started walking out the door.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She questioned one last time.

"Yeah, I promise, everything's fine." I gave her my best smile and walked down stairs.

My mom was drinking coffee in the kitchen, I walked in and she met me with, "You're still wearing the same clothes from yesterday"?

"Good morning to you too. Where's hubby"?

"He's out buying groceries. Why, missing him"?

"I just haven't seen him in a while".

"That's because you're never home when he is".

The front door clicked open, "Guess whooooo".

"Eh just because you said that, I think I'm out, see ya"! I waltzed out the door and down the street. I got my feeling that something was missing and then hit my head in my stupidity, my headphones!

I had to find a way to North's workshop though, no way I was going back home and through Pitch's lair was out of the question. My thoughts were interrupted with a snowball to the face. I looked over to see a certain white haired boy playing with a bunch of kids.

"Hey we need one more person! Monty is sick, and we need another person for the opposite team. Wanna join"?

"Uhhh I dunno, I'm a bit old for snowba-"

I was interrupted with yet again another snowball. Then, I dashed over and joined in on the fun; I must say it was a lot of fun. We wasted about an hour just running around in the snow pelting everyone on the opposite team. After the kids went home and it was just Jack and I.

"That was fun right? You are never too old for a snowball fight!" Jack laughed.

I began laughing, "Yeah I suppose, but you TOTALLY ruined my thought process. I forgot what I was gunna do".

"Well I suppose I would help you out." He began listing random things that it could potentially be, but after a while I just zoned him out.

"North's place!" I yelled.

"Excuse me what?" he questioned.

"Do you know a quick way to the workshop"?

"Hah! You're gunna love this"!

He grabbed my arm and flew me up in the air, as I was falling I yelled, "JACK ARE YOU INSANE? I CAN'T-"

Then I fell on his back like a piggy back ride, he yelled, "Hold on"!

I wrapped my arms around his neck tight and shut my eyes.

"H-hey don't choke me"!

"Sorry, heights aren't really my thing".

We were flying through the freezing air and were at North's in about an hour. He burst through the front door and I threw myself off his back.

My hair was tangled and poufy, "T-thanks I guess, Jack".

He started laughing, "Y-your hair"!

I gave him a dirty look and went straight for the room that my headphones were in. When I turned around North was standing right in front of me.

I yelped and fell back, "OH my- You scared me".

"I see that, you forgot headphones I was going to give them back later, but thank you for saving me trip"!

"Uh yeah no problem".

"What happened to your hair"?

"Two words: Jack Frost".

Jack then flew into the room, "Oh you know you had fun"!

I rolled my eyes, "I don't have time for this". I began to walk out of the room, but was cut off by Jack.

"What's the rush"?

I smiled, "That's for me to know..." Then I bolted past him then teased, "And for you to never find out"!

I hoped over the railing and ran down the stairs, I could hear Jack's voice echoing not far behind, "Oh so it's a game now"?

I laughed then ran down a flight of stairs, realizing where I was I smiled and leaned against the wall. Jack appeared a second later, "Hah! Corrrrnnnnnneeerrreeedddd. I win".

"I think not"! I placed my hand on the painting of the white haired boy, and a light flashed.

Next thing I know I was standing on a frozen solid lake. I burst out laughing in my victory, Jamie soon spotted me and asked, "Hey where's Jack? We were gunna finished our snowball fight"!

"Uhh knowing him, he'll be here soon, you guys can wait here".

"O-ok, are you gunna play though"?

"Nooo I'm good, you guys have fun though".

I walked past the lake and took a shortcut through the forest.

A voice from behind me said, "You know you don't have much time left until the deal is off".

My good day took a turn for the worst, "Crap! How much time do I have left"?

Pitch laughed, "You have an hour left".

I ran didn't waste time talking to him, I immediately ran home. When I got there, I ran up the stairs and stopped right in front of Emma's door. Was I really about to shatter her childhood like this? She loves Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, and Jack Frost. Can I do it? This little voice in my head then just burst out, it's for her. You are doing this to keep her safe.

I walked into her room; she was looking through her storybook about the guardians.

"Hi big sis! You've been gone all day! I'm so happy you're back".

I walked around her room and placed my hand on a drawing of hers; the one of the five of them.

"Look sis! I'm reading a book! I'm a big girl now"!

I felt my gaze harden, "Then start acting like one". I ripped the drawing off the wall and threw it to the floor. It felt like an out of body experience, like I was watching someone else do this to her.

"Wha- What are you talking about?" her eyes were watering.

"There is no such thing as them. The guardians are a lie. They don't exist".

"Of course they do, Mommy told me so".

I started laughing and walked towards her, "_Well mommy _is a_liar__"._

"Sissy! How can you say that"!

"Think about it dear Emma, James puts the presents under the tree, Mom sneaks the teeth out, and they hide the eggs, ALL while you're sleeping".

Tears started streaming down her face, "No you're lying, and they wouldn't do that"!

"_Emma would lie to you"?_

She sobbed with no response.

I started tearing the pages out of her book, "Guardians are not real, simple as that. There's no such thing as flying sleds and reindeer, no bunny that hides eggs, no fairies, no person that gives good dreams, and no person that controls the weather. Just face facts".

"A-are you really telling the truth"?

I walked to her door and gave her one glance back, "Yes, Emma, there is no such thing. It's best to save you the disappointment now".

I shut her door, and then all the guilt hit me like a bomb. The whole time it felt like a movie through a screen, like I was watching someone else do it. Tears started streaming from my eyes while I could hear Emma's sobs and crying.

I went in my room and shut the door, I just ruined her childhood. I'm a terrible sister. The worst there is.

I looked up and saw Pitch standing in the corner of my room.

"Happy?" I said disgusted.

He began to laugh, "You finished just in time too, and well I am a man of my word, so she's officially off limits. I must say though, I'm rather impressed. You showed no mercy doing that".

"Whatever, at least it's all over now just go. Leave me and my family out of this whole guardian business". I placed my face back in my pillow.

"One thing first".

I looked at him in confusion as he drew an arrow from black sand.

"Wha- what are you doing"?

In an instant he shot it, right at my forehead.

I fell back and instantly fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay so stuff has started coming up, so I'll maybe post once every other day. But I'll try to keep it to daily; Just a heads up for future purposes:)**

* * *

A while had passed since North last saw Miya. He figured that she was building up her power somehow so that she can properly seal Pitch away. The time passing since he last saw her felt different though, North felt something was wrong. He had no time to investigate though, Christmas was around the corner and everything was kicked into overdrive for preparation.

Walking into the globe room, he realized that a light of a little girl had gone out.

"That is not right. Phil! Is globe's rotation right?" he asked.

The yeti then proceeded to check his little control panel and nodded his head.

"A little girl's light went out on globe. Are you sure"?

The yeti then showed North the controls and everything was in order. This made a feeling of fowl play in his stomach.

"Who is closest guardian to this place"?

The yeti said "Jack Frost" in his yeti language.

He pulled out a paper and wrote a letter, "Give him this".

The Yeti grabbed the letter and opened up a portal.

* * *

Jack was causing his daily mischief throughout the town. He made his way down to the park to see if Jamie and his friends were waiting for him. Instead he was met with the yeti.

"Oh hey Phil. Are you lost or something? This isn't really the pole ya know".

The Yeti handed him the letter and made hurried through another portal back to the pole.

"Okay? I guess you're not." Jack said aloud.

He opened the letter and read:

_Jack,_

_Please check on little girl at this address –N_

The address was written under the rest. He thought it was strange getting a request from North this way, but dismissed it.

The only problem was Jack didn't know how to find a house based on the address. So he decided to hunt down Jamie or someone to help him out. As he flew around searching for him, he found Miya walking down a street towards the city instead.

"Hey! Miya!" he called but she didn't stop walking. He flew down in front of her, "Hey can you help me out with thi-" he stopped walking when Miya walked right through him.

He was in shock, how could she stop seeing?

He flew to North's workshop to see if he had answers.

"What?! She walked through you?!" North yelled, "This is bad, very bad".

"Yeah but how are we going to do anything"?

"We need to find out what happened." North said.

"How? We can't talk to her"!

"That is the thing. _We _cannot, but I might know someone who can." North smiled.

"What are you talking about? Well, who are you talking about"?

"Jack, I cannot leave workshop. It is much too busy, I need you to go and tell Cupid what has happened. He can help".

"What!? Can't we ask Tooth, Bunny, or Sandman instead"?

"We don't have to ask them, you don't have any big things you have to do. So you need to work with Cupid to help".

"He's worse than Bunny though! He's selfish and arrogant! It's always me me me me me with him"!

"But, he can help. Now go, no time to argue".

North pushed Jack through a portal that led to a coffee shop. "Work with_ Cupid" _he thought, "This is going to be a long day".

Jack walked inside the shop to see Cupid setting up a stage.

"We're closed!" Cupid yelled from over his shoulder, "The show doesn't start until 8 tonight"!

"Well it's a good thing that I'm not here to see your stupid show." Jack replied.

Cupid turned around and gave the winter spirit a glare, "What do you want"?

Jack explained the situation to him, he listened closely.

"So what do you want me to do?" he said flatly, "Looks like we're one gatekeeper short".

"Were you not listening? You need to make her see us again"!

"_Us _I think you're mistaken," he smiled, "Regardless of whether she believes or not, she can still see me".

"You need to make it so she can see ALL of us though"!

"Why should I help you, Jack? This doesn't concern me".

"You're the one who wanted to be a guardian"!

"Ah-ah I said I wanted the title".

"Well you got it! Besides if you don't Pitch won't be sealed again"!

Cupid's look hardened; he hated Pitch, mostly because he knew Cupid's fears. To him, it made him feel weak, and Cupid couldn't stand the feeling of it, "Fine Jack. So what's the plan"?

Jack looked surprised, "Uhh well… we still need to work on that".

Cupid face palmed, "Way to think this through".

"Hey! Normally North's the one that comes up with plans! Don't blame me"!

Cupid crossed his arms and stared a Jack, waiting.

"Ok ok, well first you have to see if she remembers you. So I guess you have to meet her"?

"Wait here." Cupid said as he walked up a flight of stairs.

"What is he..?" Jack said aloud.

A few moments later, he returned wearing dark blue jeans, a white tank top that had a silver splatter painted heart design on it, and a black button down winter coat.

"You changed outfits?" Jack questioned.

"Well I have to blend in." Cupid replied.

"Right, now we should find her, I saw her walking this way earlier, so she's probably n the city somewhere".

The two walked outside and flew above the crowds.

"I won't get to talk to you once we find her, you know that right?" Cupid said.

"Huh? Why".

"I'll look like I'm crazy, talking to thin air. So when we find her you can't say a word to me at least".

Soon enough, they saw a familiar pair of headphones making their way around town.

She was sitting at a bench, stretching her legs, scrolling through her songs. The two landed around the corner from where she was. Cupid drew in his wings, "Here goes nothing".

He walked around the corner and "tripped" over her outstretched legs.

Miya looked at him, "Oh my god I'm so sorry, are you okay"?

He grabbed his knee and had a look of hurt on his face, "Ahh, its fine".

"A-are you sure? You look hurt. Did you fall that hard"?

"No, nothing like that, I just have a weak knee that's all".

She gave a sympathetic "awwww", "Well are you going to be okay"?

She helped the young boy up on to the bench and shyly said, "Uh, y-yeah, sorry to trouble you like this".

"Well if you say so". There was silence for a minute then she looked closer at him, "Have I met you somewhere before"?

"No I don't believe so, why"?

"You just look really familiar".

"Well, I'm new in town; I think I'd remember if I met someone like you before".

"What's that supposed to mean"?

His face reddened in embarrassment, "Oh! Nothing".

She smiled, and then stood up, "I should probably go, and my mom kinda wants me home early today. So see you around".

He gave her a warm smile, "I guess so, bye for now then".

She got up and started to walk away when he quickly said, "Oh wait! I don't think I caught your name"!

She turned around and said walking backwards, "its Miya, what's yours".

"You can call me Tanner".

"Okay! Bye for real this time"!

He smiled and waved goodbye.

After she was out of sight he stood up and walked towards Jack, who was sitting on the bench next to the one they were.

"Well she has some sense of her memory, she said I was familiar." Cupid said.

"That's good I guess." Jack said, "And what about your knee"?

Cupid laughed, "You really believed that"?

"You faked it"?

"What can I say? I'm a good actor, but then again, I'm good at everything".

The two boys started flying to the coffee shop.

Jack rolled his eyes, " Yeah yeah yeah, whatever, I'm assuming that you have a plan for tomorrow".

"I'll 'coincidentally' run into her somewhere or something".

"Good idea".

The two arrived at the shop, "Meet here tomorrow at noon. Unless you wanna stick around until then." Cupid said.

"And see your little performance? Hah! No way"!

"Your call, now I've gotta go, shows starting in a little bit".

Jack flew outside and kept himself busy making blizzards in Russia until they had to meet again.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, Jack met Cupid in front of the coffee shop as planned. Cupid was wearing another casual outfit, carrying an umbrella; he drew out his wings.

"Looks like it'll rain today." Cupid said.

"You afraid of a little rain?" Jack teased.

"I don't know if you noticed, but I have to keep up on appearances".

"Ok ok no need to get mad about it".

"Yeah, but tell me has something felt off lately"?

Jack shrugged, "Well the others seem like something's up, but I don't feel different".

Cupid looked intently at the ground as if he were listening to something.

"What's your deal? You seem distracted." Jack said.

"I-it's nothing. Don't worry about it," he looked back up at Jack, "Have you found Miya"?

"Yeah, she's sitting in the park".

Cupid sharply turned around and looked at an alleyway. He then rushed back inside the coffee shop and returned with his bow and quiver filled with arrows.

"You sure everything's fine?" Jack questioned.

Cupid walked quickly past Jack and turned into the alleyway.

"Hey! Wait up!" Jack flew over to the alleyway, and saw Cupid searching the area with his bow drawn back.

"What is your problem?" Jack questioned, not two seconds after he said the he saw a black shadow rush past him in the corner of his eye, "Whoa"! Instinctively he froze it in its tracks.

Cupid looked over to see what Jack had caught, "I knew it".

"What"?

"Pitch has-" Cupid was cut off when a voice from behind them began to speak.

"Well now you've dragged him into your guardian business, Jack"?

The two immediately turned around to see Pitch standing behind them.

Cupid drew his bow and gave Pitch a menacing look, "He didn't drag me into anything".

"Oh? So you got involved all by yourself?" Pitch taunted, "So you're acting on your own now? Not a little sidekick"?

He immediately shot an arrow and Pitch dodged by hiding into the shadows. The arrow hit the wall that was behind Pitch. Jack then raised his staff in defense, "Pitch you can't hide forever"!

"Who said I'm hiding?" He was standing in the alley's opening, the two then stood side by side both weapons drawn ready to strike.

"What are you doing here then?" Jack asked, keeping a tense look on his face.

"I'm here to tell you that what you're trying to do is something that shouldn't be in your interest".

Cupid replied, "So you have something to do with Miya's memory".

He laughed, "She asked for it herself, I just thought I'd give you a fair warning".

"You're lying!" Jack yelled, and then shot a burst of ice of him. Pitch dodged it yet again and disappeared into the shadows, not showing up again.

"What was that!?" Cupid yelled, "We could've gotten more out of him"!

"You really believe that he's gunna tell the truth? It's Pitch Black, did you forget already"?

Cupid rolled his eyes, "Either way there's still the chance. I have a feeling that's not the last time we're going to see him".

"Yeah, so do I".

"So now, back to Miya".

"Uh yeah she's this way". Jack flew up but Cupid didn't follow, he was standing on the ground looking up at Jack.

"What are you waiting for?" Jack yelled down.

"Let's walk there, so if we see Pitch again we can do something about it".

Jack shrugged, "Okay? Whatever works I guess".

The two made their way over to the park in about 2 hours, due their getting lost from not knowing their way around the city.

They were standing behind a nearby tree Cupid turned to Jack, "Same rules apply as before".

Jack rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah yeah".

Cupid had just turned around the tree and ran into Miya. They both fell to the floor, Miya looked at the boy who had just knocked her to the ground, "You again".

He gave a short laugh, "Heh nice to see you too"; he got to his feet and held a hand out to him, "Sorry about that, need a hand".

She looked at his hand curiously, went to grab it, and then hesitated.

"Are you certain we haven't met before"?

"Well technically we met yesterday, so now I think you can say we've met before".

She grabbed his hand and he pulled her up, "Yeah, I suppose so; your name was Tanner right"?

"Yeah, and you're Miya right"?

"Yeah".

They started walking around the park, and came across Jamie and a couple of his friends playing in the snow.

Jamie looked at Jack who was following the two and yelled, "Hey Jack you wanna have a snowball fight"?

Jack laughed, "Finally! Something fun to do"! Jack flew off and joined their fun.

Miya gave them a questioning look, but dismissed it. Eventually the two looped around the park lost in conversation and walked nearby Miya's house.

"Well this was fun, but I gotta go".

Miya's mother came outside to water the plants and saw the two, "Miya is this your friend"?

"Uh well..." she looked over to him.

"Why don't you come in and have lunch with us?" her mom said.

"Mom"!

Cupid laughed, "Its fine, and I have no problem with it".

Her mother walked the two inside; Emma rushed down the stairs and stopped to examine the stranger that was now in her house.

He looked down at her and got down so they were at eye level; he gave her a warm smile, "Hi there".

She immediately said after, "Your hair is pink".

"So it is".

"Isn't pink a girl color"?

Miya and her mother giggled behind them. He tried to hide the irritation he hated it when people made fun of him, mostly because he's used to being admired.

"Is that a problem"?

"I dunno, your eyes are red too. I've never seen anyone with red eyes before".

"Well it's called a mutation; do you know what that is"?

"No".

"It when something changes when you're really little".

"So why does Miya have a yellow eye"?

Miya's smiled vanished, before the awkward silence sat in, Miya's mother broke the silence, "let's have sandwiches, you guys can make them yourself. I already set the ingredients out".

They proceeded to make food, then all sat down.

Miya's mom looked at Cupid, "Oh! We never properly introduced each other. I'm Miya's mom, Mary".

"Oh, I'm Tanner, I'm new to town".

"You're new? Did your parents move because of work"?

'Well, I live with my grandma, my mom is home sometimes, but I and my father don't really see eye to eye soo he's either working or avoiding me".

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry".

He gave her a reassuring smile, "Ohh it's no problem, really. I'm fine talking about it".

Miya broke in, "So it doesn't bug you him never being there"?

He was surprised, "Oh! Well I distract myself, down at the coffee shop in the city; the owner lets me perform there".

"You perform; maybe we can go down and watch sometime, I'm sure Miya would enjoy it".

Miya's face reddened, "Mom! That's a bit of a conclusion".

Tanner laughed, "Well I have one at about 2".

Miya's mom said, "Wow! It's 1 o'clock already"!

"Is it? Well then I guess I should head out. Thank you for the food." He smiled and made his way out.

"Miya we are so going to his show." Mary said.

She rolled her eyes, "Why"?

"He seems so sweet! And we could go for a little family night".

"I guess it doesn't matter how much I argue"?

"Nope, get ready".


	14. Chapter 14

"Mie! It's 2:30! Ready to go?" my mom yelled from downstairs.

I was laying face down in my bed; I really couldn't care less about going to Tanner's performance. My mom was totally getting the wrong idea. I hardly know the guy, but whatever, mom can believe whatever she wants.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm coming".

I walked outside to see my mom and Emma waiting for me in the car, I got in and Emma said, "Mommy do you think it's going to rain today? The clouds look upset".

"Rain or snow, it's hard to say".

I just sat and gazed out the window during the ride over, I caught a glimpse of Jamie playing in some of the leftover snow with a few friends. Something felt off to me, like there was something I was forgetting that was very important. Soon enough, we arrived at the coffee shop; it was flooded with girls my age.

"Jeez, what's all this about"?

I glanced on stage to see Tanner tightening the strings on an acoustic guitar. He glanced over at me and smiled, and looked like he slightly laughed, and then resumed tightening the strings.

There was 10 minutes until he started. I convinced my mom to let me go out to the car because I "forgot" something.

I just sat around outside, it was getting cold out here, but the girls inside were noisy and annoying; they just sat around swooning over Tanner. There was a loud bang from an alleyway nearby; it was just a few feet away from where I was. I wanted to go investigate, but if someone was getting killed or mugged; then I'd probably be in trouble.

I snuck too the corner where the bang came from and looked inside using the reflection off my phone. There didn't seem to be anyone, or I didn't see anyone at least. I peeked around and slowly made my way around until I was completely standing in front of the alleyway.

Nobody was there; I cautiously took a few steps in, making sure my steps were silent. When I took my next step forward, I fell to my knees. A rush of chills came out of nowhere; I was hugging myself and looking at the ground. I felt scared to the bone, I don't know why; but I did.

Maybe it's just my paranoia getting the best of me, but this alleyway truly scared me. When I decided that I was done getting freaked out, I made my way back to the shop just in time to see the show. I took a seat next to the window. Tanner begun to play his guitar and sing. He was very good at it, though he was mostly just singing covers of songs.

After about 30 minutes of songs, I noticed the woman playing piano. She looked familiar, just like Tanner did when I first met him. My head started throbbing; I tried to ignore it and walked over to where the woman was playing piano. Before I could get a good look at her face, I looked over and saw Emma freaking out over the snow that was now falling. I took my seat again by the window. Then, Jamie and his friends ran by the coffee shop, they looked like they were being led by something; they all were looking up in the same direction. Tanner stopped singing and announced that he was going to take a break. He walked over to the table I was at and sat down across from me, my mom, and Emma.

Emma looked up to my mom and asked, "Hey mommy, where does snow come from"?

Before my mom could answer, Tanner answered, "Jack Frost, obviously".

Emma shifted as though she was uncomfortable, "That's not true though…"

Tanner looked confused, "Huh? Who told you that"?

She looked over at me and quietly said, "My…my…. Imaginary friend".

Tanner looked up at me, then back to her, "Well that's not true! Of course he's real. He's friends with Santa, the Easter Bunny, Tooth fairy, and the Sandman".

"But-they're not real either…"

My mom gave her a concerned look.

He glared at me for at second then said, "I'm guessing that your "imaginary friend" told you that too".

"Y-yeah".

"Your friend is tricking you then." He gave her a reassuring smile, "Of course they're all real! How do you think eggs get hidden on Easter? Presents get under the tree? Do you think your parents do it or something"?

"That's what my friend said".

"Then how would they be awake all day? Wouldn't they be super tired? Yet they're always up before you".

"They are, always up first…"

My mom interrupted, "Of course, Emma we could never do it all".

She smiled, "So they are real! I knew it"!

Tanner looked up and was staring at a corner of the room, he looked disgusted.

"Uh Tanner? You okay?" I asked.

"Y- yeah excuse me". He got up and disappeared in the crowd of loves truck girls.

My head hurt even more, but I wanted to stay and ask Tanner something before we left. So I rested my head on the cold window next to me and waited.

Soon enough, he appeared on stage again, "Sorry, we have to cut it short today, some stuff came up".

There was a wave of sighs and disappointment, but the girls eagerly waited for his last song. He started playing and singing once more:

"_Heart beats fast_

_Colors and promises_

_How to be brave? _

_How can I love, when I'm afraid? _

_To fall_

_Watching you stand alone…"_

I sat up immediately, know for a fact I have heard this before; I may forget tons of things, but never would I ever forget if I've heard a song. I stood up and walked closer to the stage; I walked around the side and looked in interest at these people.

I know these people, I just know it.

I looked over to see Emma looking out the window and getting my mom's attention, I strained to listen what she was freaking out about.

"Mommy, look it! Jack Frost, it's him"!

Jack…Frost… That name I know, I swear.

I looked over to the lady playing piano and then it hit me, that hair clip… she dropped it when she walked me home…. She walked me home when I saw….

The memories hit me like a bullet; my head felt like someone smacked it with a hammer.

"Pitch Black..." I whispered to myself. How could I have forgotten? Why did I forget?

This boy that I met, who had claimed to be new, Tanner was a fake name. It was Cupid.

I looked over at Emma and saw the white haired boy flying around the window entertaining Emma. He caught me staring and smiled, he looked over at Cupid who was finishing and gave him thumbs up.

I sat in my chair again, looking at the ground in shock. What was happening? My mom placed her hand on my shoulder, "Come on honey, time to go".

"I….I'm going to stick around a while…. if that's okay, I'll be home soon".

"Okay then, don't take too long".

I stayed in that exact position until the shop was empty, all except Cupid and me.

He walked over to me and looked at me with question, "Miya, do you…. Do you remember who I am"?

There was a minute of silence I didn't look at him but answered, "Yes".

Jack who was standing behind me said, "Yes! Success! See I told you that plan would work"!

Cupid looked at me, "Why didn't you remember us"?

"I…. don't know…."

The three of us began walking down the street looking at the ground. The two of them were talking, but I didn't bother listening. I was lost in my thought trying to remember, and then Jack grabbed my arm and stopped me.

I looked up and saw Pitch was standing in front of us.

"You broke the deal" he said in a singing teasing voice.

"Deal..? What deal?" I asked.

"Oh so you haven't regained all memory yet, no matter, it was long enough for me to collect enough power for this".

"What?"

Jack pulled me behind him and Cupid; the two raised their weapons as he drew his scythe back.

"Miya, get out of here." Cupid said firmly.

"But-"

"There's no time for this! You have to go!" He yelled keeping his gaze on Pitch.

I ran in the opposite direction. I looked over my shoulder to see Pitch fighting to two. Blocking Cupid's arrows when he swung back and cutting through Jack's frost shards when he swung forwards again.

Turning around again, I saw I was cut off by night mares that appeared out of an alley. Before they could get to me, two boomerangs flew forwards and destroyed the creatures. I looked over to see Bunny signaling me to run over to him. When I reached him, he said, "This way!" and escorted me over to a sleigh that was waiting around the corner.

Tooth and Sandy were fighting the nightmares behind us, keeping the distance between me and them. I was helped into the sleigh by North and he immediately took flight. I looked over the side to see Pitch gather sand to pursue us, but Cupid and Jack now had to keep Pitch busy all while defending themselves from nightmares.

"North! Where are we going?" I yelled over the wind.

"Back to pole! It is safe"!

Then the sleigh began to shake, Pitch was quickly catching up, Jack and Cupid were fighting their way up to where we were.

Sandy quickly made his way up to Pitch and stalled him longer. After a while, pitch was very far away and the others looked like they could handle themselves. I looked back at North and gave a sigh of relief.

I stood up so I could make my way back farther into the sleigh, when I saw a black mass over the side of it.

"NORTH LOOK OU-"

My yell was cut off, when the cannonball of black sand hit the side of the sleigh; I fell off the side of the sleigh.

Now here I go, falling through the sky, just like then.


	15. Chapter 15

_Moments before_

"Behind you!" Jack and Cupid yelled in unison.

Jack blasted ice behind Cupid as he shot an array of arrows behind Jack. The fearlings that kept interfering were a big nuisance to the problem at hand. Pitch swung his scythe at the two boys while their focus wasn't on him, Cupid swiftly ducked under it as Jack flew above.

"Gotta be faster than that!" Jack taunted.

Pitch sneered at him and threw his scythe up into the air at Jack; it flew in a rapid circling motion towards the spirit. In a split second, Jack made a shield of ice in front of him. As the scythe connected with it ice flew everywhere, blowing Jack back a few feet. Jack hit the ground with a thud, but was uninjured and was quickly met with more nightmares.

While that was occurring Cupid saw a perfect chance to strike, he leaped towards Pitch and slammed his bow against Pitch's face. Cupid landed behind Pitch and glanced back with a smirk to see the damage, but instead Pitch's whole head was just a mass of black sand and quickly retained its original state.

"Wha?" he questioned.

Pitch turned to him and laughed, "You really haven't learned a thing, have you? Falling for the same trick twice".

While Cupid was pondering what had just happened, Pitch drew back an arrow and shot it at the boy. He managed to move his head out of range from it, but the arrow made it halfway into his side. Cupid landed on one knee and yanked the arrow from his side; he cringed at the pain but knew it wasn't over yet. Cupid rushed to his feet and dodged the next set of arrows successfully, holding his injured side.

Jack and Cupid soon came back to back, "Let's focus on Pitch, and try to ignore the nightmares as best as possible." Jack said.

"Don't bother." Cupid replied, "That isn't even Pitch".

"What are you talking abo-"

He was cut off by Pitch yet again lashing out at the two, they both ducked under it; only this time Jack was close enough to strike at him with his staff. Pitch's face turned into the mass of sand again, and then reformed his face.

Pitch smiled at Jack's surprise, "Neat trick, isn't it".

Jack backed away and looked at the black figure in confusion.

Cupid yelled over from the other side of Pitch, "I told you! It's not him"!

Jack glared at Pitch, "So it's just black sand made to look like him".

The figured laughed, "Precisely, now if you don't mind. I believe this is the part where I finish you two".

He shot a mass of sand towards Jack; it was quickly countered with ice. The shadow man jumped towards Cupid and slammed his scythe down. Cupid barely managed to dodge it, getting a scratch on his leg through his pants.

"What's the matter boy?" Pitch had a wide grin on his face, "You look a bit tired, and why not just stay there for a minute to rest"?

Cupid did a somersault and held his bleeding side, "I can't keep going like this" he thought, "I'm losing too much blood, things are starting to blur".

While Cupid was off guard, the Pitch nightmare saw it as the perfect time to strike; he leaped up to perform a finishing slash on the boy. Jack saw what was about to happen to his companion and swiftly made a thick wall of ice to shield him, he then made a dome of ice surrounding to two.

Jack looked to the side to see the Pitch puppet slamming on the ice with his scythe.

"Ok we don't have much time, what are we gunna do?" Jack asked.

Cupid looked up at Jack, then the angry nightmare on the outside slowly breaking through their barrier.

"I-I don't know, we can't beat it, it will only reformate".

The two sat in silence and took a minute to think; Cupid then looked up and noticed the sleigh taking off. He nudged Jack then pointed to it, "Looks like we don't need a plan, we're done".

The figure on the outside noticed the boy pointing at something and looked over to see the sled fleeing.

"You're not getting away that easily" it said aloud. It then began making a cannon out of sand.

The two boys's noticed that there was no more slamming on the dome, they looked over to the figure and saw the cannon starting to come together.

"Jack we have to do something!" Cupid yelled.

A look of realization hit Jack and he hit himself on the head, "DUH! Why didn't I think of this sooner"! The Pitch figure finished the cannon and was ready to make it fire.

Jack quickly made the dome shatter and launched himself at Pitch.

BOOM

He shot a huge blast of ice at it and froze it in place.

The problem was, he was a second too late, the cannon had fired and the dark sand ball was quickly making its way to the sleigh.

"NO!" The two screamed in unison. Cupid drew out his wings and flew as fast as he could to catch up with it.

It crashed into the sleigh and two figures went flying out; at this point everything was a big blur to Cupid, but he managed to catch one of them in mid air. Judging on how it fit in his arms, he assumed it was Miya.

He then focused on instead off flying, using his wings as wind breakers, to slow their descent. Cupid no longer had the strength to keep himself in the air.

The two landed on the ground roughly, Miya rolled off to the side; while Cupid had one hand on the ground and one on his side.

"Miya! Are you okay?" Cupid called out.

She was getting back up "Y-yeah I'm fine." The girl looked over to him and watched in shock as the little bits of snow that were beneath him started to stain red with his blood.

"OH my god are you okay?!"

"I-I'll be fine!"

Jack soon arrived followed by Sandman, Tooth, and Bunny.

Tooth gasped at what was in front of her.

The sleigh was shattered and pieces were everywhere, and Cupid was kneeling in a pool of blood.

"Aw man are you two okay?!" Bunny said, "And what happened to North?!"

"I'll go look for him!" Tooth yelled then flew off into the wreckage. Sandman the started making a huge barrier out of his golden sand so the Nightmare's wouldn't attack them.

Miya ran over to Cupid and made him lay down. She lifted up his shirt enough to get a look at his wound, and then put her hands over it to stop the bleeding.

Jack frantically looked over to Bunny, "What are we supposed to do?"

Bunny started pacing back and forth, "I'm a bunny! Not a doctor! Can't you freeze it or something"?

"Would that give him frostbite?" Jack questioned.

"What did I just say?! I don't know! Maybe if we get him to the Pole fast enough, we won't have to worry about that?"

"Well it's worth a shot!" Miya intervened. She ripped off her sleeve and tied it around his body and over the wound.

Jack then took and staff and gave it a thin layer of frost over it. Cupid screamed in pain and tried getting up, "I told you I'm fi-"

"NO you're not!" Miya yelled.

"Why didn't you say something when we were fighting the shadow Pitch thing?" Jack yelled.

"Because maybe my kneeling in pain thing wasn't enough!?"

"Well I thought maybe you were tired or had a cramp or something!"

"Now is NOT the time for this mate!" Bunny yelled.

He looked over and saw Tooth with North; he was leaning on her for support, but was injured. He was limping and had a large piece of wood in his arm.

"My… my pocket…I have.." North muttered. Tooth laid him down against the wall of golden sand and grabbed the snow globe portal out of North's coat pocket.

"To the pole" she said and tossed it on the ground. Tooth helped up North and made their way through.

Bunny picked up Cupid and hurried behind Tooth and North, while the other three made their way in.

Soon after North and Cupid were resting in their own little rooms, Tooth was mainly tending to their wounds with help from Bunny. Sandman decided to go and patrol the workshop to make sure there weren't any nightmares lurking around.

That left Miya and Jack, sitting in a room nearby silent. Jack looked over at her; she was sitting on the ground with her head on her knees.

"Earlier, Pitch said you broke the deal; what was he talking about Miya?"

She looked surprised for a moment then sad, "I-It was that I cut off Emma and my connections with the guardians, and he'd leave us alone".

Jack stood up and glared at her, "Why would you make a deal with _Pitch_"?

"I…. I wanted to make sure that regardless of what happened; she'd be safe".

She put her head at her knees again; Jack caught a glimpse of her watery eyes.

"It's all my fault… That North and Cupid are hurt, I'm so sorry".

"Like father like daughter I suppose." Bunny said as he hopped into the room.

Miya quickly looked at Bunny, "You knew about that"?

Jack looked at them confused, "Wait, and knew what"?

"Years ago, her old man made a deal with Pitch".

"You knew her dad"?

"We all did, he was a gatekeeper, and Miya, don't worry about a thing; we'll keep ya both safe".

"It's not you guys I'm worried about".

Bunny gave her a sympathetic look, while Jack didn't understand what was going on still.

Tooth came out into the room, "Well done for now".

Miya stood up and asked, "Are they hurt badly"?

"No, it's nothing life threatening, North is actually fine now, though I'm making him take it easy for a while".

"And Cupid"?

She stared at the floor, "He- he's a bit more roughed up, he passed out after a while. But he'll be okay".

"Can I see him"?

"Yeah, follow me". She led Miya to his room, where he was lying on the bed just as Tooth described.

"Why wouldn't he say anything? About him being injured to Jack?" Miya asked.

"Maybe he just didn't want to seem like dead weight, he's always been that way. Once you get past his ego, he really does do his best to help".

"I wonder what made him that way".

"Well, way back in the dark ages, he and Trick were good friends".

Miya gave Tooth a questioning look, "Who's that".

"He's the spirit of Halloween; they stuck together like you wouldn't believe. It was like they were brothers".

"But they weren't, did Cupid have a brother? He talked a little about his past before, I think".

"Do you want to find out"?

Miya raised an eyebrow at her, she gave a little laugh and flew over to him, "Come on".

Miya obeyed, Tooth grabbed her hand and placed her own on his forehead. Then there was a bright light and the two were in a village of some sort.

"Whoa, what? Where are we?" Miya asked.

"We are in his memories".


	16. Chapter 16

The fairy and girl were surrounded by a small village that had busy people everywhere.

"_It looks like these people do a lot of hunting and gathering" Tooth said._

People were passing through the two of them as if they weren't believed in. Miya's face went to shock seeing that people were going through her.

"_Wha- What's happening?!" she yelled._

"_Calm down, this is the past. We can't interfere with it, only watch."_

Miya nodded her head to Tooth, just as a dirty blonde teenage boy ran between them; he was carrying a bow and had a quiver strapped to his back. He wore a loose long white shirt that had a rope tying it around his waist, and had what looked like dark brown pants on that stuck to his legs; and was wearing oversized brown boots.

The boy looked back to see if he was being followed, smirked at the fact he was alone then ran into the woods.

"_That must be him." Miya said, "I recognize that face anywhere". _

"_Let go then." Tooth said and flew directly behind the boy._

The young man came to a clearing by a river. There were around 8-10 girls his age; they were spaced out either collecting fruit from the bushes and trees nearby or water from the river. Many of them looked over at the boy and started smiling.

"Shirking your training again, Tanner?" one teased.

The boy sat his quiver and bow down, leaning it up against a large rock, he looked over at the girl and smiled, "What else would I be doing here"?

Another girl spoke up, "Doesn't your father ever get mad that you hardly ever go to train"?

He laughed and shrugged, "Of course he does, but that's not my problem. I'd much rather spend my time here, with all of you".

Some of the girls swooned other admired him from afar.

"Since you're here, can you sing to us again?" one girl asked.

"Pretty please Tanner?" another added.

"Just one song." Some other girls said, while various others had their own form of begging.

"Okay. Okay. Just keep a lookout if my brother comes to get me." Tanner responded.

Some of the girls moved over to where the clearing's entrance was and gave him the a-okay sign.

He settled down on top of the rock that his bow and quiver were leaning up against.

He then began to sing:

"_Heart beats fast_

_Colors and promises_

_How to be brave?_

_How can I love when I'm afraid, to fall_

_Watching you stand alone_

_All of my doubt_

_Suddenly goes away somehow_

_One step closer_

_I have died, everyday_

_Waiting for you"_

He continued to sing as the girls' noise went completely silent. Some were humming along to the melody of his voice and other stopped completely to listen.

After a minute of his singing, he was interrupted when one of the girls yelled over him, "He's coming"!

One of the girls ran over to Tanner's bow and quiver and hid it inside a hole in tree; Tanner threw himself off the back of the stone and crouched behind it.

A tall brown haired boy with green eyes dressed in animal skin armor and carrying a battle axe came into the clearing.

"Has Tanner been through here"? His voice was deep and stern.

The girls played dumb and responded with, "Huh?" "No" "We haven't seen him all day". The tall boy glanced around the area and sighed.

"If you see him, can you tell him to come to the training area? Our father is furious that he didn't show up again".

Some of the girls began questioning why their father was angry.

"That is not of your business." He sneered.

The girls nodded their heads in agreement and the boy ran back towards the village.

"Coast is clear and your father is mad again." the girl closest to Tanner said.

"So I heard" he grabbed the girl by the waist and gently stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, "There are no words to describe my gratitude to you". He let go of her and raised his hands to all of them, "Thank you ladies, I appreciate it."

He bowed to the girls, "And I apologize on behalf of my brother's behavior, none of you should be treated so rudely".

They began to giggle and forgave him.

The blonde haired boy grabbed his bow and arrow out of the tree and said "Farewell".

Girls awed as he was saying goodbye, "Please be careful in the woods Tanner! Lately, the animals have been rather violent as of late".

"Don't any of you worry your pretty little heads." He said as he headed deeper into the forest.

Tooth and Miya followed behind him as he practiced shooting various objects. He was very skilled with the bow for someone that didn't practice. Miya was able to get a closer look at his face; he had warm green eyes and soft facial features. His hair was just long enough for his bangs to slightly cover his eyes and it naturally spiked up.

"_Hey Tooth", Miya asked, "What did they mean by the animals were being violent"?_

"_Keep in mind; this is in the middle of the Dark Ages. You know about that right"?_

"_Wow… we are this far back in time? Oh! And yes Bunny told me a little about it"._

They were cut off by a group high pitched screams and yells that came from back at the clearing.

Tanner immediately took notice and dashed off back to the clearing, during his dash a sharp branch hit the strap that held his quiver and it broke off. He didn't seem to take notice that it fell and soon came to the clearing. He was panting and looked over to see one of the girls quivering in a ball up against the rock. She was staring at the other side of it clearing refusing to blink.

Tanner took notice and looked that way; there was a large menacing wolf with black fur and sharp yellow eyes staring at the two of them, growling menacingly. Tanner's eyes widened and slowly make his way in front of the girl.

"Tanner... I-I" the girl tried speaking.

"Shhh shh shhhhh no suddenly movements." He whispered.

He reached his arm over his back and was grabbing at the air. The realization he dropped his quiver hit his face. He drew in a deep breath and kept his eyes locked on the animal.

"Get up, slowly." He whispered to the girl.

She obeyed; the wolf began taking a couple steps closer and stopped when the girl stood up behind the boy. It was growling even louder than before and drool started coming from its mouth.

Slowly, the two were circling around the wolf towards the way back to the village; the girl was shaking and held his shoulder tightly.

When they were directly in front of the way to the village, Tanner gently nudged her back as a sign to walk backwards. She started to, and Tanner stood his ground. As she was backing up, she stepped on a branch that made a loud sharp CRACK.

The wolf charged and jumped at the boy, knocking him to the ground. He quickly held his bow up to defend himself. The jaw of the wolf was biting into his bow and simultaneously started scratching into his arms and chest. Tanner threw the wolf off from on top of him, he rolled over and tried running back to the village when the wolf had got up and bit deep into his calf.

The boy screamed in pain, he swung his bow back like a club and hit the wolf in the face. It let go and quickly launched itself back on top of the boy before he could get up to make an escape. The wolf was leaning into its prey's face snarling and biting at it. Tanner could barely hold its neck back to avoid it from biting his face. As it inched closer and closer to his face, Tanner screamed, "HELP"!

Almost instantly there was a grunt and blood splatter all over Tanner's face. He was breathing heavily, and looked to his side while wiping the blood off his eyes seeing the wolf lying dead with an axe in the side of its head. He looked up to see none other than his brother standing behind him.

"What were you thinking! How did you think that YOU could beat a WOLF with just a bow?!" he yelled.

"I-I….thanks Aaron." he lying on the ground smiling at his brother.

Aaron looked at his little brother in surprise, he had almost just gotten killed and here he was, smiling.

Aaron sighed, "Can you stand up"?

Tanner attempted getting up and stumbled when he had to step with his bloody injured leg. Aaron had one of Tanner's arms around his shoulders and helped him limp back to the village. When they arrived back, virtually everyone was outside, some comforting crying girls, and others gasped in shock as the two boys went home.

When Aaron finally got home, he sat Tanner on the couch.

"Boys? Are you home", a woman's voice called from another room, "Do you know what all the fuss is about outsi-" she stopped talking in gasped in horror.

"OH my goodness! Tanner!" she ran over to her injured baby, "Honey! Are you alright? What happened? How deep is the wound"? Aaron ran into another room and came back with some supplies for his wound.

"Mom I'm fine." Tanner said weakly.

"Liar, if I hadn't gotten there when I did, you would've died", Aaron said.

Tanner gave him a dirty look as their mother gasped in horror. "Tanner you tell me what happened right now or I'll-"

"What in the bloody hell happened?" A deep voice came from the doorway, "Tanner you bumbling idiot what were you doin'! See now if you had come to training like your brother this wouldn't have happened"!

"Nice to see you too, dad." Tanner said.

"I swear I don't know where we went wrong! You're gunna get yourself killed out there!" his dad yelled.

His mom had finished wrapping up his leg and proceeded to take care of his arms. Aaron leaned against a wall in silence as the father raged on about his son's whereabouts. Nobody in the room payed attention to him though, which angered him even more.

"_Interesting family, huh Tooth?" Miya said._

"_I'd say, everyone is a polar opposite"._

When Tanner was finished being patched up, he looked like an unfinished mummy, his leg and torso were completely covered in wrapping.

"Boy! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!" the father screamed.

"Now is not the time for a lecture!" his mother yelled and shooed the father out of the room.

There was a moment of silence and then, a knock at the door. Aaron went over and opened it, the girl Tanner had saved earlier walked in with a basket of goods. She had a long braid which went down to her lower back and bangs that couldn't quite fit in it' and blue dress that had a dirty white apron over it. The girl sat her basket down on the table and sat across from her injured savior.

She started tearing up, "I-I'm so sorry".

Aaron walked outside to join his friends who were all dressed in armor similar to his. Tanner looked at the girl, "Sorry for what"?

She looked at him in surprise, "It's my fault your hurt so badly".

"No it's not." He smiled at her, "It was my choice to stay there, if I hadn't what do you think would've happened to you"?

She put her hands over her face and started sobbing, "I know it's just.. You got hurt so badly from it and I..I"

Tanner got up out of the chair he was in and was on one knee in front of her, he pulled her hands down from her faced and wiped her tears away, "Don't cry, I'll be fine, I promise you I will". She looked at him with her deep sapphire eyes; and his eyes, they weren't angry, they weren't filled with hurt. They were filled with worry, not for himself but for her.

She blushed and helped him back onto his chair, "Thank you... so much... for everything, Tanner".

He smiled at her and shook his head, "It was nothing, really".

She got up and began to leave when he asked as she was about to head out the door, "What's your name"?

"M...Mina", she said softly.

"See you around then, Mina".

"Y-you too".

She quietly shut the door, Tanner unwrapped his leg to look at a very deep bite mark, which went all the way around his calf.

"_Ready to go then?" Tooth asked Miya._

"_Not quite yet"._

"_Why not? You've seen who he is"._

"_But I want to see just how he became Cupid"._

"_You know what had to have happened to him, right"?_

"_Of course, I just want see how he died"._


End file.
